Legends
by Vixen Tail
Summary: A walkthrough of Diablo II, starting at the Rogue Encampment and continuing to the Throne of Destruction, without using names of the playable charaters.
1. Act I, Quest I

**Disclaimer** : Obviously not mine, but the ten year love/hate affair with the game is.

**Rating** : The game is rated **MA**, so the fic will have to follow with a **M** for violence and graphic gore. As well as a few other ideals I'm playing with that might make their way in.

**Author's Note **: The playable characters are not named in this for obvious reasons, seeing as everyone has their own names for the various classes, and they differ from mine. So they will be referred by their class name only, with a few of their avatar's characteristics thrown in for variety. I have ideas for which build the Sorceress, the Necromancer, and the Druid will follow, but the others are fair game if you want to request a particular build for them. I also need suggestions for the names of the hirelings, as I have only the Rogue in mind. You don't have to leave a review, just PM me if you have an idea. This will continue even if I get none, so feel free to ignore the 'Leave a Review' button at the end. I'm using this as sort of escape from my more technical heavy fics. This will go a chapter per quest, so unless it's a long quest, or it's that one that never ends (Act II-Quest II and Act III-Quest III), the chapter will end after the hero(es) go back to the current Act's camp/town/city/home base.

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><p><strong><span>Act I - The Sightless Eye<span> **

**Quest I - The Den of Evil**

**AS** the night rolled in over the temporary Rogue Encampment, set up on the edge of the Bloody Moors and past a river that made a natural barrier to the southeast of the camp, it came with another of the frequent rain storms that marked the spring season. The scattering of fat drops grew in number until the sentries that patrolled the wooden walls were soaked and cursing their limited visibility.

A shadow worked its way along the river bank and across the bridge, the glimpses of firelight that flashed between the logs highlighted the long brown hair of the woman trudging her way to the Encampment. The Rogue archers stationed at the entrance gave her and her strange appearance a suspicious look over, but did not refute her passage. The Sorceress frowned at the lack of fuss put up over her sudden appearance from out of the night, but shrugged at them and at her worries as she made her way to the fire pit set up in the middle of the camp. They had obviously seen worse if there was not even a raised eyebrow over her muddy and blood spattered appearance.

She shifted the short staff she held and slung it across her back using a length of rope, the only remains of her mentor that she had managed to snatch before she did as the elder woman had bid and ran for her life from a group of mis-happened demons that swarmed to overpower the pair of Sorceresses. The thought of the night's prior events made her lips twist bitterly, but she stubbornly ignored the pang of sadness that threaded through her as she held out her hands to be warmed by the hissing coals of the fire pit.

"Greetings, stranger." A man in blue and gray cheerfully called out to the lone Sorceress, drawing her attention from the embers glowing dully between them. "I'm not surprised to see your kind here. Many adventurers have traveled this way since the recent troubles began. No doubt you've heard about the tragedy that befell Tristram. Some say that Diablo, the Lord of Terror, walks the world again."

That drew the woman's full attention, and the green, black, and gold clad Sorceress made her way around the fire pit in a hurry, so the man wouldn't have to shout to be heard. "I take it you know something of this issue then, my good man?" she asked as she got closer to the caravan driver. Even if her mentor was no longer among the living, it would be appropriate to complete the work they both had set out to do.

"I don't know if I believe that, but a Dark Wanderer did travel this route a few weeks ago. He was headed east to the mountain pass guarded by the Rogue Monastery." Warriv passed on the information to her as he considered the woman now standing next to him, and the blood spattered on her boots. "Maybe it's nothing, but evil seems to have trailed in his wake. You see, shortly after the Wanderer went through, the Monastery's Gates to the pass were closed, and strange creatures began ravaging the countryside."

"Damn and blast." She muttered to herself sourly. Her Order had declared that the time of the Emergence of Evil was at hand, and her mentor had taken her from their Community to seek out the minions of Evil. Given that her mentor was no longer among the living, and that she had little to no experience in fighting demons on her own, she wondered what she was supposed to do now.

Unaware just where the woman's thoughts where, Warriv continued with the suggestion he had given the other adventurers he had seen so far. "Until it's safer outside the camp and the gates are re-opened, I'll remain here with my caravan. I hope to leave for Lut Gholein before the shadow that fell over Tristram consumes us all. If you're still alive then, I'll take you along."

"Oh, thanks." She replied with a wry smile. "Your faith in me is astounding."

He laughed at her dry statement. "You should talk to Akara, too." The caravan leader continued after he caught his breath "She seems to be the leader of this camp. Maybe she can tell you more."

"I'll do that. Thank you, uh..."

"Warriv."

The Sorceress inclined her head to him as she moved to pass him to explore the camp. "Thank you, Warriv. I hope to talk to you later."

As she made her way around the Encampment, she noted the location of what looked like another member of Warriv's caravan and a blacksmith, as well as a red clad rogue in armor that scowled at her as she passed half way through, but it seemed as the woman had better things to do than talk to her. That suited the Sorceress just fine, and as she noted the stone paved way point tucked behind a tent and looked over a low wall made of stone, she caught sight of an older woman in black and purple who positively radiated magic from her slightly stooped form.

Akara smiled as she caught sight of the vibrant young woman approaching her. "Greetings, young Sorceress. It is good to see more of your kind at work in the world these dark days. In my opinion, the world needs more women to fight against the great shadow. But I am forgetting my manners... I am Akara, High Priestess of the Sisterhood of the Sightless Eye. I welcome you, traveler, to our camp, but I'm afraid I can offer you but poor shelter within these rickety walls."

Using one hand to wring out her hair before stepping into the other woman's shelter, the younger spell caster stood firm before her. "Can you tell me what has gone on here?"

"I can." Bowing her hooded head, the High Priestess stared off into the distance as she recounted the events that lead to the Rogues occupying the farthest outreach of what had once been their home territory. "You see, out ancient Sisterhood has fallen under a strange curse. The mighty Citadel from which we have guarded the gates to the East for generations, has been corrupted by the evil Demoness, Andariel. I still can't believe it... but she turned many of our sister Rogues against us and drove us from our ancestral home. Now the last defenders of the Sisterhood are either dead or scattered throughout the wilderness." The Sorceress could feel empathy for the Rogues' plight, and the softened expression caused the older woman to ask her for her help. "I implore you, stranger: please help us. Find a way to lift this terrible curse and we will pledge our loyalty to you for all time."

Taken aback by the request, the Sorceress blinked in surprise before nodding that she was willing to help.

Akara gave her a warm smile. "There is a place of great evil in the wilderness. Kashya's Rogue scouts have informed me that a cave nearby is filled with shadowy creatures and horrors from beyond the grave. I fear that these creatures are massing for an attack against our Encampment. If you are sincere about helping us, find the dark labyrinth and destroy these foul beasts."

"I'll do it." Gripping the short shaft of the staff that had once belonged to her mentor, the Sorceress swore on her teacher's soul to help. "I will clear this den out for you."

"May the Great Eye watch over you." Before the brunette spell caster could turn away, the High Priestess raised a hand to stop her from leaving just yet. "I should add that many Rogue scouts have died in that horrible place. We cannot afford to lose any more. If you choose to enter that Den of Evil, you must do so alone, unless you can find the other adventurers that wander the lands."

"I thank you for the warning, Akara." The Sorceress gave the Rogue Priestess a bow and left her corner of the camp.

Retracing her steps back to the entrance of the Encampment, the young woman gripped her mentor's staff in both hands and ignored everyone else. If she was to aid the Rogues in their plight, she would need every scrap of concentration, as well as every bit of magic that she could summon. She had never gone into battle without her mentor beside her, and the prospect of fighting without her teacher's magic to aid any mistakes was enough to make the younger spell caster's hands shake.

She pulled herself out of her thoughts and her core of magic once she had cleared the bridge again, this time looking out into the Bloody Moor that the Rogue Encampment looked out over. It was nearing the end of the night, false dawn could be seen on the very top of the trees. The rain had not let up, but the Sorceress did not let that deter her. Her magic could burn even in the middle of a snowstorm. Striking off to the south-east, following the worn path that lead into the wilderness, she started to hunt for the very evil that she and her mentor had intended to fight ever since they had left their home in the far Eastern jungles.

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><p>She was still looking for the entrance of the cave that Akara spoke of when the sounds of battle reached her. Casting another Fire Bolt into the snout of yet another small quilled demon rat, the Sorceress picked up her pace to see what the disturbance was over. To her surprise, it was not another knot of the little red demons squabbling over some shiny bit of metal, but a Paladin fighting four zombies on his own. The dark skinned man had both a short sword and a buckler, but seemed hard pressed to swing his sword and avoid all four of the slow moving undead pressing in on him.<p>

Without bothering to issue a warning, she flung another of her fire spells at the second nearest zombie to the besieged man, distracting it and allowing the holy knight to concentrate on the nearest one pressing down on him. She also cast another Fire Bolt into the face of the farthest as the Paladin finished off his undead opponent and launched himself at the second one. With a well placed swing of her short staff, she bludgeoned the third zombie's head off just as the Paladin ran his last opponent through with his short sword.

Now, without the immediate threat of being eaten hanging over them, the two turned to face each other warily. The Sorceress had heard of the Order of Paladins before, but had never seen one up close. There were a number of rumors about their conduct, and she had no clue which ones would prove true.

Likewise, the Paladin had heard of the female mage clans, but had not thought that he would ever see one. The young woman across from him radiated excess heat from her fire magic, causing her wet clothing to steam in the cold false dawn. "Well met, dear lady, and my thanks for the assistance."

"You are welcome. May I ask what it is a Knight of Westmarch is doing in these forsaken moors?" Shifting her staff to her left hand, the Sorceress extended her hand to include their immediate surroundings and the bodies of the undead they had just dispatched.

"Ah, yes, that." Rubbing the back of his dark head, the holy knight gave her a sheepish grin before he started to pull on his short sword, loosening it from the corpse of the zombie he had felled last. "I have, unfortunately, loss my fellow priest, he fell not three nights hence. I have been battling these undead horrors in an attempt to retreat to a more defensible location in order to regain my wits and my way."

"My sorrows for your loss, knight." The young woman bit her lip, looking at the warrior before her. Truth be told, she was no great force with any kind of weapon, because her studies had focused almost exclusively on her magical skills. He, on the other hand, seemed at home in the middle of a melee. "May I request your assistance, sir Knight? I am to clear out a den of monsters that have threatened the nearby encampment of Rogues, however, I am no great warrior, though I do have some skill with fire magic."

Wiping the gore off his blade using his fallen foe's rotted burial cloths, the Paladin nodded to her as he rearmed himself. "I would be pleased to assist, my lady. Betwixt your magic and my blade, we should not have any problems with your quest."

"I have yet to find this den, but I do know it does not lay behind me."

"Then follow my lead, lady, and let us strike a blow against the evil that inhabits this land." He swept her a surprisingly courtly bow, and started off in a westerly direction.

(ooo000ooo)

They found that they worked well together, the Paladin taking the lead when the numbers of enemies grew larger than four or five, the Sorceress taking out the one or two between knots of the undead and demon hoards. They split the spoils of the fight between them, evenly dividing the gold and equipment found by who could use it and what it could do. The young woman found that finding the cavern's entrance was much easier with two pairs of eyes, as she nearly missed the rocky outcropping tucked in the lee of a copse of trees. The only way the Knight had, was because of the red banner than was stuck into the moist ground before it, aside from a number of tracks going in and out of the cavern.

As the two of them stood at the entrance to the dark pit, the Sorceress tucked a few more of the blue vials of liquid that she had picked up under the sash she had retrieved from the corpse of a Fallen demon. "This place is trouble. We must be wary, Akara has told me that the Rogues have lost a number of scouts to this den."

"There is a great Evil that dwells within this cave." He agreed as he rose to his feet, having crouched to identify the tracks around the entrance, and then eyed the vials she was handling with curiosity. He knew what the crimson ones did, she had insisted he use and carry several of them, but she had kept the navy colored vials for herself. "I have never seen the like before. Pray tell, what are they?" He asked with a gesture at the strange vials.

"Minor potions of Mana, the magical energy that spell casters like me manipulate to fuel our magic spells." She gave him a wry grin of her own. "I left the encampment with far too few. It was fortunate that we found more, or my spell casting would have to be slower to conserve my energy."

"Fortunate indeed. We should-"

An almighty crash interrupted the Paladin, and caused both to start in shock and surprise. On the heels of the loud sound, was the echo of a Barbarian's loud war cry, hurled at some unseen foe. The two exchanged one look before bolting to the unknown warrior's aid. They raced through the dark tunnels, and nearly crashed into a Fallen Shaman, who was raising the dead Fallen ones as rapidly as the Barbarian could kill them. The Sorceress ducked past him to the far corner of the tunnel, she knew that she would be no good in close quarters, and spun about to start casting her spells at the demon soldiers. Having already drawn his sword, the Paladin held his shield out before him and took the Shaman to the ground with him, skewering the demon priest as he fell on top.

The Barbarian had not stopped or even faltered his fury fueled fight, and he made short work of the nearby demons as the Sorceress' fire spells struck down the ones trying to run away. As the Paladin regained his feet, the wild warrior finished off the last of the red skinned demons. Heaving for breath like a bellows, the warrior looked over his new companions once and then called to them as he started off farther into the cavern's interior. "Come, my new friends! My brother in spirit needs our assistance!"

With another look to each other, the two followed after their large fellow, both wondering who else had proceeded them into the den of monsters. They gained their answer when the Barbarian came into sight again, this time flanked with a creature that looked to be a cross between a wolf and a man. There was another wolf at the strange creature's side, and the three of them were fighting what looked like a half-score of zombies.

The Paladin leaped into the fray taking up the other side of the blue painted warrior. Without much room to move in, the zombies were unable to flank any of the warriors attacking them, but they could press into a solid group that threatened to overwhelm the four now fighting. The Sorceress, unable to cast her spells without the risk of hitting one of the warriors between her and the horde, grew frustrated and threw her short staff into the knot of undead before sweeping up a bow from the lax grip of a dead Rogue. With the same Rogue's stock of arrows, she started pouring magically flaming arrows into the first rank of the horde. She missed just as often as she scored a hit, but it was safer than unloading a barrage of spells and possibly hitting one of the warriors before her.

It took them a few nerve racking minutes, but the ranks started to thin under the assault from the four heroes and the summoned wolf spirit. Feeling a cautious sort of hope, the four pressed their attack, starting to carve their way into the horde. The pained yelp from the hazy wolf, proceeded by a burst of icy blue light, warned them that one of the zombies was not what it seemed. A second hit to the same unfortunate animal spirit caused it to fade out of existence under the flash of yellow heat.

Recognizing the sight of a magically imbued monster, the Sorceress called out to the warriors, "That one, the blue one! He is enchanted, do not be hit!" She slung the dead Rogue's bow on her back and called up her magic again, focusing on the blue zombie moving up to the wolf creature's right side.

The flash and sputter of her fire magic cast an eerie light over the three warriors as they battled the rest of the horde while the mage concentrated her efforts on distracting the more powerful zombie slowly walking towards her. By the time the three had managed to whittle the horde's numbers down to a manageable two a piece, a flair of gold light enveloped the wolf-creature, and a auburn haired man took its spot, wielding a club with deadly accuracy against the remaining zombies arrayed before him. The Sorceress, distracted by the flash of magic not her own, took her eyes off the blue zombie closing in on her, only to look back just before it connected with a wide swipe aimed in her direction.

She fell back with a pained grunt and a splash of spilled blood down her side that caught the Druid's attention, and the fur robed man whirled to concentrate his efforts against the enchanted zombie as the worn spell caster put more distance between herself and the undead slowly shuffling after her. Catching sight of her abandoned short staff sticking out of the caved in ribs of one of the Druid's zombies, the Sorceress lunged forward to pull the stout staff free, and used it like the wild mage's club to bludgeon away at the zombies still after the Druid.

The Barbarian crushed in the head of his last undead attacker, and looked around wildly at the others. Seeing that the Paladin was fairing better than the Sorceress, he spun to take on the second of the undead attacking the young woman in his spirit brother's stead. The holy knight finished his opponents not soon after, and after his own assessment of the others, he hastened to the Druid's aid with the enchanted zombie. As the wild warrior embedded his hand axes into the skull of the last of the undead minions, the Sorceress spun to cast her last few available spells at the remaining zombie, using up the last of her recovered mana reserves.

The flash of heat that indicated her spell had hit was preceded by a flash of a freezing blue light lashing out at them. It knocked the poorly prepared spell caster over, and the three men were driven to their knees as their clothing and skin frosted over from the sudden bite of cold magic.

Struggling to his feet first, the Paladin moved over to the fallen Sorceress and assured himself that she wasn't badly injured. After helping his spirit brother to his feet, the Barbarian looked around the undead littering ground with a wide grin. "There are many foes here."

"So, this is what the moors hide." The Druid gave the same surroundings a quick glance of his own before looking back at the two that had hastened to their aid. The holy knight was checking over his magic imbued comrade, still lying on the cavern floor. "Is your companion alright?"

"Simply exhausted, I believe." The dark skinned man gave the wild mage a look he hoped was reassuring. "I cannot leave her here alone, even if it might be safer to continue with clearing out this den of monsters instead of waiting for her to come to."

"You need not wait." With a groan, the Sorceress pushed herself up slowly, shivering as her magic compensated for her drained reserves of mana by decreasing her body heat, converting the physical energy to add to her store of mana. "I will only be another few moments." She pulled out one of the slim navy vials from her pilfered sash, regarding it with distaste before pulling out the cork and upending it into her mouth. Swallowing the bitter brew, the spell caster pushed herself to her feet with the Paladin's aid.

"Young lass!" The massive Barbarian swept her up into a bear hug once she was standing on her own. "Your efforts were surely the change in battle that let us overcome these evil creatures. Verily, journeying with you would be an honor."

"Um..." Blinking dazedly as she was set on her own feet once again, the Sorceress looked from the wild warrior to the wild mage. "If you are willing, we are to clear this den for the Rogues to the north. They threaten the encampment and the safety of their scouts."

With a fierce nod to her, the wild warrior returned to the last zombie he had felled and chopped off a limb, sticking it in the cracks in the cave's wall with the hand pointing to the exit. "We know we have gone this way, fellows, now we only have another two directions to clear out." He gave a loud laugh, brandishing his hand axes at the darkness. "Beware, foul demons and beasts!"

The Druid gave both a nod of his own, and followed his fellow warrior to the left. With one last look between them, the Paladin and the Sorceress made their way to the right.

(ooo000ooo)

The two groups met up not long after, the Druid and the Barbarian chasing down one last Fallen demon as the Paladin and Sorceress were finishing up with a dieing Gargantuan Beast. The wild mage gave them both a fanged grin, since he was in his beastly form again, with another spirit wolf at his side. "Heh, is that all of them?"

"This cave has been purged of evil." With a grin of her own, hers more relieved than triumphant, the young woman nodded to the other two men as the wild warrior and the wolf spirit finally cornered the cowardly demon.

A sickening crack made all three look over to the Barbarian, who had snapped the demon's neck as the spirit animal panted at his feet. "The Rogues are safe, for the moment."

"My duty here is done." The Paladin swept the Sorceress a bow as he turned away, intending to return to where he had met the Sorceress outside.

"Wait! I have a better way than walking back through the wilderness." Slinging her pack to the ground before her as the holy knight turned back to her, she dug through it to produce a scroll bound with a blue ribbon. "A portal scroll, tied to the Rogues' temporary Encampment. We can use this to return to a safe location." She tossed it to the ground after pulling off the ribbon.

The scroll glowed blue, then a rift in the air appeared, a campfire and a caravan being sprinkled with rain was clearly visible through the magic ring shimmering in the air.

"Resourceful, little lass." Pounding her on the back, and nearly knocking the spell caster into the cavern floor, the Barbarian wasted no time in walking through it. The Druid, after he made sure the Sorceress was not harmed by his spirit brother's enthusiastic approval, followed after him with his wolf spirit at his side.

Flexing her spine, certain something had been bruised by either the blue zombie or by the wild warrior, the Sorceress waved a hand for the Paladin to proceed her as she checked the surroundings one last time. He saluted her with his short sword, and stepped through. As she checked over the now empty cavern, she took note of the random splashes of blood on the walls and the ground, one of which she could identify as her own blood cooling on the ground.

With a last but fond thought of her dead mentor, and one last kick to the zombie that had injured her, the Sorceress returned to the portal, intending to return after talking to Akara and close it up so no demons could use it to invade the Rogues' Encampment after they crept back into the now empty cave.


	2. Act I, Quest II

**Disclaimer** : Obviously not mine, but the ten year love/hate affair with the game is.

**Rating** : The game is rated **MA**, so the fic will have to follow with a **M** for violence and graphic gore.

**Author's Note **: Really, nothing to say for myself. I really should get on with working on my other fics, but I've wanted to do this one for so long. My computer is a little wonky, so most of my fics are on hold at the moment. **Deus ex**'s next chapter is almost done, but this fic and that one are the only two that will be updated while I work on my latest real life problem.

**Wingcommander** has provided the builds for the Amazon and the Paladin, **Nianque** has provided the builds for the Assassin and the Barbarian. Thank you both for the help.

**Swdlvr **- Forgive me for my ignorance, but: What? I have no idea how to do that.

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><p><strong>Act I – The Sightless Eye<strong>

**Quest II – Sisters' Burial Ground**

**FOR** the next several days, the four mismatched adventurers spent most of their time helping the Rogues clear out the rest of the Bloody Moors of demons, monsters, and the occasional undead, periodically checking the Den of Evil to ensure that no other dark creatures had crawled back since they had ventured to cleared it out. The Paladin and the Barbarian left the Encampment early each morning at dawn's break, returning by the time the mid-day meal was offered to collect the other two. The Druid would spend the early hours helping the Rogues to reinforce the rickety wooden walls that surrounded the camp, while the Sorceress would patrol the perimeter to inspect and test the magical wards that protected it from attack, occasionally reinforcing the magic behind the wards with Akara's help.

It was five days after the four had cleared the den when the red clad Rogue, the commander of the Rogue Armies, Kashya, approached them. Earlier that day, the Barbarian and the Paladin had scoured the Moors all morning but had found little in the way of anything larger or more ferocious than an occasional deer. As the two warriors ate their mid-day meal, and as the two mages finished up their morning chores, the brash woman demanded their attention.

Standing next to her was another Rogue in red, this one in the uniform of the Scouts with darker red leather armor and knee high brown boots. This particular Rogue Archer was well known to them, as Flavie normally held the pass between the Cold Plains and the Bloody Moors by herself, and the four had taken to visiting with her before returning to the Encampment every evening.

As the Sorceress and the Druid approached, the Rogue Commander wasted no time on pleasantries. "My Rogue scouts have just reported an abomination in the Monastery graveyard! Apparently, Andariel is not content to take only our living. Blood Raven, one of our finest captains in the battle against Diablo at Tristram, was also one of the first to be corrupted by Andariel. Now, you'll find her in the Monastery graveyard raising our dead as zombies! We cannot abide this defilement! If you are truly our allies, you will help us destroy her."

"Such corruption is unforgivable," muttered the Paladin, casting the last of his meal into the fire pit and rising to his feet, "I will go to lay your sister to rest, who else will journey with me?"

The Druid tilted his head to him, not entirely sure what a 'graveyard' was, or what foes it would provide. "If you will lead, my pack and I will follow." He had acquired another spirit wolf, and an oak spirit, that accompanied him whenever he left the camp. The three spirits normally milled around until any enemy was spotted.

With two out of four planning to go, the Barbarian clapped his large hands together eagerly. "A battle with a warrior of noted skill, you shall not go without me."

"Well, someone must keep you all out of trouble." The Sorceress grinned at her fellow heroes, and then sobered as she nodded to the Commander of the Rogues. "You have all of us, I take it Flavie will continue to hold the pass once we leave?"

The harsh woman gave a sharp nod before turning away; calling out over her shoulder "Death has done nothing to weaken Blood Raven's combat skills. If anything, she's more deadly than ever. If you all fall, we should at least keep more of the demons and monsters from invading the Moors."

With a proposed journey longer than what the four had been expecting, they split up to ensure they had the provisions for an extended jaunt into the wilds. Flavie joined the Sorceress in talking to Akara and stocking up on potions of both Mana and Health and another scroll of Town Portal. The Druid and the Paladin went to procure better armor than what they were currently wearing and a few quivers of arrows from Charsi, and the Barbarian sought out Gheed to gamble for a better pair of axes. They met up before the hour was out at the gates of the Rogue Encampment, and traded what information the other merchants and Rogues had said about Blood Raven.

The Sorceress started, doling out the potions she had acquired to those she knew were running short. "Akara said that Blood Raven was corrupted either when the battle for Tristram was fought, or sometime shortly after."

"Charsi had nothing more to add, except that Akara had sensed something amiss before the Rogue fell." Trading a pair of heavy gloves for a few potions of Health, the auburn haired man nodded his thanks as the spell caster gave him a few potions of Mana as well.

Grinning, the Barbarian hefted a new pair of axes he had successfully won off of Gheed. "Nothing more than gossip, I'm afraid, but there is little that the little man is good for."

"Are we ready, then?" With another cursory check to their equipment, the three other heroes and the Rogue nodded to the holy knight. "Then we should be off. Ladies, if you would be so kind as to cover the rear, the Barbarian and I will take the lead until the pass to the Cold Plains."

Flavie gave him a wry grin, and the Sorceress a passing frown, but they held back until the two warriors started off at a fast pace, sure of the lack of foes in this part of the Moors. The Druid started off next; in a flash of light he assumed his half wolf form and with two wolves and a tree spirit at his foot paws, before he started after them with a dose more caution.

The brunette spell caster scowled after them a bit harder, but shifted her mentor's short staff to her back and took up the bow she had liberated from a dead Rogue, fixing a quiver of arrows to her belt as the two females followed after. "Warrior I may not be, but I am equally terrible with a bow as a sword."

"Would you like to practice a bit?" The Rogue asked with an even wider grin, choosing to ignore her companion's ill humor. "I have heard that practice makes perfect."

Well aware that the Archer was teasing her, the Sorceress gifted her with a dark look as she drew an arrow to set against her bow's shaft. "May I use your carcass for it?"

"Ah… never mind then." Flavie tried hard to keep her amusement from her voice, but by the spell caster's expression, she failed horribly. "I was thinking more along the lines of taking shots at whatever we pass."

Her comment was rewarded with a dry snort, but the Sorceress had a small smile on her lips as the two women followed after the men.

(ooo000ooo)

It was a mostly silent journey through the Bloody Moors until the five called a temporary halt to recheck the Den of Evil. As the Druid, his summoned creatures, the Paladin, and the Barbarian ventured into the cave, the Rogue and the Sorceress took up watch positions to ensure nothing snuck up on the others.

After a few minutes spent checking their surroundings, Flavie turned to the other woman with a grin as they returned to the cave's entrance. "Have you ever seen an Amazon before? One passed my post two nights ago, seeking something she called 'more challenging' than small demon packs."

"Don't they mainly hire out as mercenaries, those that leave their islands anyways?" The Sorceress frowned as she tried to recall what little she had been told of the isolated region the warrior women hailed from. "I've had studies that said they are rather… independent."

"I wouldn't want to work with one, if the attitude of the last one I saw was any measure of the breed." Flavie scowled off into the distance as she remembered the incident in question. "She was rather brash, and a bit rude. It's a pity; I heard their archery skills might rival those of a Rogue's."

A smirk rose on the lips of the spell caster as she peered over at the other archer with amusement, and the Rogue scowled harder at the sight. "And I'm sure your opinion has nothing to do with any imaginary rivalry betwixt your cultures and everything on her manners, right?"

"… Are you mocking me?"

"Nope, not at all." The Sorceress nocked an arrow to her bow as the three men poured out of the cave behind them, effectively ending their conversation. Flavie glowered at her even harder.

* * *

><p>The four left the Rogue Scout at the pass between the Bloody Moors and the Cold Plains, and as the three men decided their plan of action for finding the Graveyard, the Sorceress wandered off a bit to inspect another stone platform she had spotted not too far from where Flavie had set up her camp.<p>

As he had little knowledge of what a graveyard was or how to locate one, the Druid wandered over to where the spell caster was pacing. "What is it?"

"If I am right, it is a waypoint, an ancient method of travel across long distances." Still pacing around the stone slab, the brunette cast a look at the auburn haired man across from her current position. "There is one in the Rogue Encampment, and that one has been activated already. I am unsure how to activate this one, as it seems as though it has been left unused for far too long." Coming to a stop, frustrated without any theories on how to activate the ancient piece of magic, the Sorceress stepped onto the stone platform to get a closer look at the carvings in the center.

Two bowls stationed at either side of the carvings suddenly flared with blue fire as the woman's weight came down onto the waypoint. The sudden occurrence made the Paladin and the Barbarian stop in mid-sentence to see what the spell caster had done. They observed diligently, only to see the Sorceress kneel down, brow furrowed as she placed a hand onto the stone she was standing on. Deeming their conversation of less importance than whatever had her so distracted, the two warriors joined the Druid in watching the magically inclined brunette trace the glowing lines around her.

Suddenly, the Sorceress disappeared from their sight, causing a surprised bark to issue from the Druid's spirit wolves as they milled around the stone platform.

The Barbarian scratched his head, warily regarding the lit bowls of blue fire as if they might attack at any moment. "That was… where did the little lass go?"

"She said it was a waypoint, and that the Rogue's camp had one as well." Taking a step of his own onto the platform, the Druid copied the missing spell caster's previous actions and knelt down with one hand on the markings on the stone. With his new position, he could see the glowing design in the rock clearly, and that two of the circles in the stone were lit with nine circles total. He touched one, thinking of where the brunette told him there was another. "I think she-"

The Druid jerked at a peculiar sensation of being compressed by all sides assaulted him, and as he looked up he realized that the Sorceress was regarding him with a marked amount of amusement at his surprise, still kneeling across from him in the position he had last seen her in. "She what?"

"Um…" The wild mage blinked at her, then in surprise at his surroundings. As she had speculated before disappearing, they were in the Rogue's Encampment, between one of the larger tents used for storage and Akara's own temporary dwelling. "I was attempting to figure out where you went."

"Ah, well… I believe we should return, before the Barbarian becomes convinced that the waypoint had consumed us and attempts to avenge our honor by hacking it to pieces with his axes, both dulling his weapons and destroying a fascinating piece of magic." Returning her attention to the stone they both still knelt on, the Sorceress touched the only other lit circle, concentrating on the Cold Plains where they had left the wild warrior and the holy knight. The unpleasant compressing sensation plagued both for another moment, and then they became aware that they had successfully returned by the Barbarian's loud greeting before either could gain their bearings.

"My spirit brother! You and the lass have returned!" The burly warrior clapped both kneeling figures on their backs before either could rise to their feet. "Tell me, why did you disappear? Your wolves and the orange spirit thing seem to have traveled with you."

Since the Sorceress would have fallen under the Barbarian's heavy hands, the Druid reached out to brace the slighter mage and brought both of them up to stand. "Truly? The stone seems to act as the lady's portal did, and it returned us to the Rogue's camp. I was unaware that my summons had traveled with us, but that 'orange spirit thing' is an oak tree spirit."

"Not surprising. Since it is an ancient piece of magic, it is probable that the waypoints take in consideration those with summoned allies. It was not uncommon back then to have some magical allies when traveling." Lightly stepping off the waypoint with the wild mage's help, the spell caster turned to give it one last look before turning back to her companions. "Have you decided our course of action, for finding the graveyard? I apologize for becoming distracted."

Since it seemed that neither the Sorceress nor the Druid had been harmed by their impromptu jaunt, the Paladin gave a nod in answer to her question. "We'll skirt the outside of the Plains, using the boundary lines that keep the forest back as guide posts. We already know that they circle the cleared parts of these wooded lands. The only question is, which way?"

The four gave their attention to their surroundings again, this time looking at the lay of the land rather than ensuring they would not be ambushed by any foes. The east boundary wall ended abruptly, the low stone fence cutting across their view and heading north for a good way before becoming a corner and continuing on in an easterly direction again. The west boundary continued until the stone fence was well out of sight, only a lone cottage and a well could be seen in the distance with a spattering of trees.

Gripping the haft of her bow, the spell caster nodded to their right, to where the cottage lay. "I say this way. There is less of a chance that we will be ambushed by demons lurking in the shadows if there are few shadows to lurk in."

As it seemed that neither the Druid nor Barbarian cared what direction they went off in, the holy knight gave her a short bow for her suggestion and started off.

* * *

><p>The group had little problems with the demons and monsters they had seen and fought before, but the first corrupt Rogue they spotted brought a number of friends to her fight. Seven Dark Spearwomen spotted and charged the Paladin, who had been trading off leading the group with the Barbarian and fighting the remains of a Fallen Shaman's pack. The Druid, who was the first to spot the incoming creatures, barked a warning that made both the holy and wild warrior ignore the remains of the demon pack and turn to take on the new threat while the shape shifted wild mage and the spell caster took care of the last of the demons. Realizing the possible difficulty in the newest bunch of foes, the Sorceress held her arrows in exchange for her spells, casting fire bolts into the backs of each of the remaining demons as the wild mage's spirit animals kept them from running away.<p>

Spears, the Paladin grimly decided during that fight, were his least favorite weapon to fight against. Unwieldy they may be, but the weapon had reach that could prove to be hazardous in the right hands. The Rogues, corrupted or not, were well trained in whatever weapon they favored, and the seven corrupted Rogues used their training to full effect in their spirited attempts to impale and kill the four.

At first it was little more than the three men trying to keep the razor sharp spear tips away from anything vital as they tried to get close enough to either hit the demon women or break their weapons. It took two kills by the Sorceress' bow before any of the three of them managed to get close enough to do damage of their own. The Barbarian was the first to close with his opponents, his rage having gotten the best of him and ignoring his axes, he reached out and broke the tips off two of the spears with his bare hands, leaving the Rogues weaponless and easier to kill. With less of a wall of sharp pointy things in his way, the Druid skirted around the left most Spearwoman's reach and ripped her throat out with a well placed swipe of his claws. At the same time, his summoned wolves leapt at the right most corrupted Rogue, who was out of allies as the wild warrior killed the two now unarmed Rogues to her left. The last Spearwoman was not much of a challenge, as it seemed that the numbers that the Rogues had appeared in had been their only real threat to the four, and the holy knight took her out immediately after the spirit wolves took out their opponents.

The fight lasted all of five minutes, but the shock of such a rapid attack mired the adventures for a short while afterwards as they looked over the battlefield and their equipment. To no one's surprise, the Sorceress took up the slack and used the time to ensure that they had what amounted to a full healing before continuing on.

The effect most notable that came from the fight was the progressive slowing of their pace in searching for the Graveyard, since the Bloody Moors didn't have any such concentration of foes within its boundaries and such care hadn't been of use to them before in the sparsely monster populated region just outside of the Rogue's Encampment. That careful edge added to their exploration prevented another ambush when the Barbarian caught sight of a break in the barriers of the Cold Plains. That was when a pack of Dark Archers, who seemed to have staked out the location just in case anyone tried to get through the plains unmolested, tried to pin the four next to a rather spindly tree. The Sorceress used her bow and fire spells to distract the corrupted Rogues while the three males hunted down the frequently scattering Archers one by one.

That fight resulted in the brunette spell caster getting an errant arrow embedded into her right thigh, and the wild warrior getting his own arrow stuck completely through his left shoulder. As the Druid helped both the wounded mage and the warrior in tending to their injuries, the holy knight scouted out the Barbarian's find.

He came back to see the Sorceress and the Druid's spirit wolves searching among the dead Rogues for extra arrows for her quiver, while the auburn haired mage assisted his spirit brother in removing his arrow by pulling it through from his back. "That pass leads to more of the same, it continues for as far as I could see. I do not believe that is the way we need to go to fulfill Kashya's quest."

"That would be the Stony Field, then." Slotting the last of the still usable arrows into the quiver hanging off the left side of her belt, the spell caster, and the spirits wandered back to the males. "I was talking to Akara about this part of their territory, and from what she told me the Graveyard is a little ways beyond this point."

The Barbarian gave a pained grunt as the Druid yanked the arrow's shaft and fletching free of his back. "That means we are almost there, right?" He hissed in pain as his spirit brother poured some of a vial of Healing potion into his wound, then scowled darkly as the same potion, now half emptied, was pressed into his hands for his consumption.

"Drink." The shape shifter scowled back at the wild warrior until he obeyed, then raised a curious eyebrow at the young woman. "What is beyond that?"

Suppressing a wry smirk as the Barbarian made a face at the taste of his potion, she had little sympathy since she had to take one of her own, along with a Mana potion for her efforts in their latest fight, the Sorceress kept her eyes on her other companions to spare the wild warrior's dignity. "According to the priestess, there is an Underground Passage that leads to a Black Marsh. Beyond even that lie the Dark Woods, the Tamoe Highlands, and then the Monestary itself. With a few more caves and curious features along the way as well, if you wish to scout them out."

The Barbarian crushed the tiny vial that had held the healing potion under his heel, vindictivly grinning as the fragile glass that had once held the vile brew better known as Healing potion was reduced to glittering shards under his leather boots. "Then let us go, standing around will acomplish nothing." He strode off without waiting for a reply, continuing to follow the low stone wall that circled the Plains.

* * *

><p>"Planting the dead." Ripping his spiked club from the fallen form of a Hungery Dead zombie, the Druid looked over the crumbling but still high wrought iron walls that encircled the place he asumed was the Graveyard. "How odd." He was truly fascinated at the idea, but unsure of what the purpose of the act was. Were their dead trees that grew from the dead, or was it a metaphorical ritual to honor the cycle of life?<p>

With a dark scowl on her lips, the Sorceress threw a series of fire bolt spells at the steadily approaching Skeletons marching towards them until they crumbled into a pile of bone fragments under the force of her magic. "There is dark magic at work here." She took a few steps back, almost to the wild mage's side as they both looked to where the wild and holy warriors were standing.

"This holy place has been desecrated." The Paladin's face was tight with an equal measure of both disgust and horror at the prospect as he glared at one of two buildings still standing within the rusty fencing, wrenching his short sword from the corpse of his own zombie.

Chosing to either ignore the disquiet in the knight or either being completely unaware of it, the Barbarian clapped the darker male on the back after tucking his axes away. "We will face death head on." Catching sight of another skeleton standing off a way aways, the warrior helfted his weapons out again with a grin. "Even as they seek to meet us."

The brunette spell caster looked to see what had his attention, and lunged to catch hold of the burly man before he got too far away from her. "Hold." She ignored his scowl, and the Paladin's confused expression, and inspected the latest skeleton that had been spotted. "That one... it seems different than the undead we have seen so far."

Before either of the warriors could respond with something less than tactful to her observation, the Druid hastened to her aid. "She speaks the truth, friends. That one has been standing there since we ventured from the Plains, and has made no move to attack. Neither do my wolves chase after it, as they do with all of the foes we have met thus far."

True to his words, the spirit wolves that milled around the four simply ignored that lone skeleton, as if they knew it would not harm their pack.

Even with the passive observations of the more magically inclined of their group, both warriors seemed less than enthusastic by the presence of the lone and oddly acting undead simply standing around. The Sorceress huffed at their wariness, and struck off to investigate the skeleton, dragging the Druid in tow. The two of them still gripped their weapons, for even with the skeleton's disinclination to apporach them and attack they were not all to sure the undead creature would not lash out if approached.

"I have heard of a clan of mages that study the balances between the living and the dead, I wonder if this means there is a Necromancer nearby?" Switching from her bow to her mentor's short staff, the Sorceress poked the skeleton with the end the stout peice of enchanted wood. The undead twitched and moved slightly under the pressure put on it, but ignored her for the most part.

The wild mage eyed the boney warrior warily, but a whine from one of his wolves caught his attention to a black leather boot sticking out from behind a wildly growing bush. He circled around the Skeleton with his attention now on the ground, only to realize there were more bones scattered around than he had initally thought. Some of the bones scattered at his paws seemed to have been shattered, and a pile of clay had attracted his tree spirit's attention. Peering around a few unruly branches, the Druid locked eyes with the pale glare of another person. "We seem to have stumbled into another, lady Sorceress. Is this your Necromancer?"

Skirting around the large bush of unidentifiable vegitation, the brunette winced at the less than amused look on the pale mage's face. "My apologies, I do not think he is house broken yet."

The Necromancer snorted a laugh at the mock afronted expression of the Druid's, drawing up his uninjured leg to brace his lightly bleeding arm on. "Somehow, that does not surprise me. So, ignoring the normal bids of polite converation used between newly met individuals, what do you want?"

"We have been sent by the Rogues to lay one of their old compainions to rest, as well as the ones she seems to raise from their proper graves." The aubrun haired wild mage reguarded both spell casters with good humor at the jest made in his expence, but decided they were unlikely to insult him more than they had already and pressed on. "May we ask what it is you are doing here?"

"You may, but I am unlikely to answer."

By this time, both the Barbarian and Paladin had wandered over to see what had caught their companions' attention so thoroughly. Ignoring them, perhaps unwisely, the Sorceress posed some questions she had held ever since she had learned of the existence of the Priests of Rathma and their focus on arcane science.

The holy knight placed a hand on the Druid's shoulder, drawing the wild mage back to where he and the Barbarian stood and asked his burning question in a whisper only the other two men could hear. "Why in the Hells themselves is she conversing with a Necromancer?"

Unaware of any social stigmas attached to Priests of the Dead, especially the ones held by Knights of Westmarch, the auburn haired mage simply shrugged in reply before the Sorceress got around to asking about the pale mage's current predicament. They returned their attention to the conversation at hand when the Necromancer started to explain his presence.

"My fellow priests and I have been concerned by the numbers of undead that have risen lately, and have sent out a number of our order to seek out those that would bend the will of the dead to their own purposes and either lay them back to their rest, or destroy them." He gestured to his lacerated arm and the few deep slashes that leaked blood on his left leg. "Unfortunately, I was unprepared for the undead in this graveyard, and their disinclination to return to their rest. Most of my few skeleton warriors and the strength of my golem bought me enough time to retreat and recover my strength."

"I have a proposal for you then, priest." The Sorceress grinned at him, unaware of the scowl on the face of the Paladin behind her, as she rummaged around her pack in search of her extra potions. "As we have said, laying Blood Raven to rest for the Rogues is the reason we are here. Would you like to assist us?"

As the woman procured the potions she had been searching for, the Necromancer gave her a grin of his own, even if it appeared darker than the one she was bestowing on him. He could see the expression on the knight behind her and correctly identified the reason behind it. He was unable to prevent himself from nettling the holy knight, aware that he would not behave churlishly in the lady's presence. "I would be honored."

Neither the Barbarian nor the Druid seemed upset by the prospect of another companion, merely nodding to the pale mage in acceptance and adapting their minds to another presence to fight along with. The Paladin glared at the priest over the Sorceress' brunette head, before stalking off a way away, muttering about suspicious characters, and too trusting ladies as he peered around for any foes to take his irritation out on.

With the potions of Healing and Mana the female spell caster handed over, the Necromancer was back on his feet quickly, and he used the corpses of the undead the four had fought recently to replenish his ranks of undead minions. With three spirit wolves, four skeleton warriors, a tree spirit, and a golem added to the ranks of magically summoned allies, the five adventures circled the graveyard's wrought iron fence, checking for ways in and out of the gated center and for any other undead that had wandered from their graves.

They decided that the Paladin and the Barbarian would enter first, from what they assumed was the front gate. The Druid and the Necromancer would each take a side and proceed in only when they heard the wild warrior's war cry. As the last of their number, the Sorceress would wait for the wild mage's wolves to howl before entering herself from the back. With a method of attack decided, and relatively sure that there was little to no undead left outside the iron fence to interrupt any of their planning, they split up for their starting positions.

When the two warriors approached what they assumed was the front gate, the Barbarian held out a hand to stop the Paladin before he strode through the gate. "How do we know when the others are in position?"

The dark skinned warrior hesitated, then uttered a curse that made the wild warrior smirk. "I have no earthly clue. Some tactician I am."

"It could be worse…" The burly warrior trailed off at the less than amused expression the Paladin gave him. "Well it could. Mayhap one of the others is locked in a fight with some new gaggle of undead, and will not be joining us for our assault."

"Haven't you ever heard of jinxes?" Rapping his knuckles on the small wooden shield he carried, the holy knight craned his head around in an attempt to see around the corners of the wrought iron fence. No matter how he twisted himself, he couldn't see either the Druid or the Necromancer, not that he really cared if the pale mage came out of the battle at all. "We have wasted enough time; I suppose we just have to trust that they are in position."

As planned, the two warriors bolted through the graveyard's front gates. Blood Raven, the undead Rogue commander, had nine undead milling around her near the bare oak tree at the center of the graveyard. When the Barbarian could clearly see the ten foes, he bellowed as loud as he could, not only catching the attention of the undead but alerting the two mages waiting with their summoned minions to join the fight.

"MY ARMY WILL DESTROY YOU!" The undead Rogue screeched at the sight of the lightly armored knight and the blue tattooed man that followed in his wake. She drew an arrow and aimed for the lesser armored opponent in her sight.

Concentrated as she was on the visible threat, she missed the sight of the three slightly transparent wolves and the half-man, half-wolf that crashed into her from the left, causing her arrow to miss the Barbarian by a few feet. Once the Druid struck the first blow, he let out a howl that was echoed by his summoned spirits before they ripped into the Hungry Dead that lurked at the back of the hoard. "Your time has passed, Blood Raven."

With a sneer for her minor injury and the taunt by her opponent, Blood Raven tried to gain some space for her archery by retreating to the right, only to nearly run into the embrace of the golem that had charged ahead of four skeletons and a rather familiar Necromancer. By this time, the Barbarian and Paladin had reached the first of the slow moving undead that made up her first ranks and had started hacking, while the Druid and his wolves harried the more straggly numbers with the Necromancer's skeleton. The pale mage himself and his golem started attacking the Rogue, the golem trailing after Blood Raven every time she tried to gain some space, and the priest of the dead switched between minor curses flung at the zombies and bone spells tossed in the Rogue's direction.

Twisting around again, this time in a direction that lead away from her undead allies, Blood Raven managed to put a few rows of empty graves between her and the plodding golem of clay. With her breather, she summoned another Hungry Dead, and notched an arrow to her bow and aimed again at the lesser armored warrior tearing through the dead she had already raised. A blast of heat slammed into her and knocked her aim wild, setting a portion of her armor ablaze. Whirling around, the Rogue notched another arrow and sent it flying in the direction of the only other woman on the battle field.

The Sorceress ducked instinctively, making the missile miss her by a few inches. Straightening up, she cast another Fire Bolt in Blood Raven's direction as well as an arrow of her own before breaking off in another direction. While the undead Rogue's attention was on the brunette spell caster, the men had finished off the last of her zombie hoard and had closed in on her location.

When Blood Raven made to chase after the Sorceress, the Paladin stepped into her path and scored a hit along the Rogue's upper left arm, laying open her flesh nearly to the bone. Realizing that she was too close to someone that specialized in close quarters, the undead Rogue stepped backwards only to be knocked forward again by a backhanded blow by the shape shifted Druid. With the summoned wolves joined in harrying her heels, Blood Raven tried to twist out from between the two men, only for the Barbarian to interpose himself in the direction she had tried to escape in. The Necromancer's skeletons and his golem kept the Rogue from escaping the circle, with the pale mage himself, armed with throwing knives, and the Sorceress took up a position a little way away and kept up their own assault.

In a last ditch effort to stave off her second death, Blood Raven summoned another zombie from the graves nearby. Without even a pause, the summoned wolves abandoned her nearly tattered legs and jumped the Hungry Dead, ravaging the undead to pieces before it even had a chance to focus on one of the three attacking its summoner.

"Good riddance, Blood Raven!" With a sickening crunch of splintering bone, the Barbarian buried his left hand ax into the back of the undead Rogue, crushing her spinal column and piercing her heart from the back. Letting loose an ear splitting scream, Blood Raven's body convulsed as a bright white light exploded out of her and leached into the corpses of the undead that littered the ground. Shielding their eyes by either turning away or raising their arms, only the Necromancer endured and saw the outline of the Rogue commander in the bright light as her soul was released from whatever hold had kept her on the mortal plane.

The thump of a body hitting the ground marked the returned attention of the four other adventurers. They were silent in the wake of the poor woman's death, up until the Druid sneezed violently from the dust kicked up by the dead Rogue. Being still in his half-wolf form, it was of an impressive and startling volume to the others.

The Barbarian gave a bark of laughter of his own, slapping the sheepish looking lycanthrope on his furry back. "I think you should go clear your snout, spirit brother. As inspiring as that was, you would lead every foe within leagues to us if you continue to sneeze that loudly."

Growling lowly at the second jest made that day at his expense, the Druid's ears flattened to his head as he stalked off to put some space between him and the dust of the paved path through the graveyard, with his summoned spirits milling at his foot paws.

Shaking his head, the Necromancer made some gesture at his own summoned creatures. As if they were waiting for such a signal, the four skeletons and the golem moved to gather the corpses up and return them to the graves they had been pulled from. The Paladin flattened his lips, but used his short sword to cut down the bodies of the two Rogue scouts that had been hung from the bare oak tree at the center of the graveyard as the Barbarian held the bodies. Pitching in with the skeletons, the Sorceress holstered her bow and grabbed the booted foot of Blood Raven, dragging her over to the nearest empty grave that the pale mage was standing next to.

The two spell casters lowered the corpse of the Rogue Commander into her empty grave. The Sorceress gave the dead woman a pitying look for the physical corruption that followed the Rogue's spiritual collapse. "Rest now, Blood Raven."

By the time the wild mage made it back, helping a number of the priest's undead minions drag more of the zombies back to their proper place, the holy and wild warriors had finished digging the two Rogue Scouts their own graves and had buried one. Looking over the number of disturbed gravesites and the number of corpses on hand, the Necromancer shook his head in disgust as he helped his skeletons with sorting their latest collection of body parts. "There are too many bodies for this to be the only part of the graveyard defiled."

"Do you think Blood Raven would have raided the two buildings as well for more undead?" Shoving back a length of her hair that seemed intent on getting in her way, the female spell caster straightened from where she was shifting soil back on the dead.

"If that is true, we should clear them out as well." The Paladin discarded the broken sword he had been using as a shovel and pulled himself out of the newly dug grave, lending a hand to the Barbarian as he lowered the last Rogue into it. The Druid's wolves took over burying the dead as the five considered the two forlorn structures.

"Since the Druid and I have minions, we should split up." The pale mage gestured to both his undead and the wild mage's summons. "I would also suggest the Sorceress accompany him, since he has lesser numbers than I do, and we both have long distance spells."

"That makes sense." Ignoring the sour expression that passed over the Paladin's face, the Barbarian clapped the newest member to their group on his back. "I can accompany either of you, and lend my axes to your strength."

"I will go with the Necromancer, my wild friend." The holy knight tugged on the wild warrior's armor to get him to take a few steps back. "You care for your spirit brother and the lady."

With few more words passed between them, the five split up, leaving behind the five undead corpses they did not have graves for. The Druid, the Sorceress, and the Barbarian headed for the Crypt; the Paladin and the Necromancer headed for the Mausoleum.

* * *

><p>The wild warrior lead the way for the more magically inclined of his group, the lycanthrope's summoned wolves at his heels. With the spell caster at his side, the Druid cautiously followed him down in the den that smelled of the dead and long forgotten misery. There were a few torches lit near the entrance and the Sorceress took one up, resigning herself to her spells as her offensive option simply so the three of them would have light to see.<p>

Keeping to the edges of the light spilled by the lady's torch, the wild warrior and the spirit wolves easily dealt with a few wandering zombies and single minded skeletons as they searched through the catacombs under the graveyard.

After nearly half an hour of listening to the Barbarian crash his way through the undead in his path, the wild mage turned to the spell caster with a question that had been on his mind since the fight with Blood Raven. "Does the Paladin have… reservations about the priest we met? He acts like he has no care for him, but he smells of anger and frustration when the Necromancer talks."

"Ah… that." The Sorceress shook her head as she cast another Fire Bolt down the passageway, lighting up a few more feet for the wild warrior to see what enemies still lurked in the shadows. "It's not so much about personal reservations; it's more of an issue of religious doctrine."

Thinking on that, the Druid remained silent until they had reached the end of their corridor, with two other hallways that branched off in either direction. The spot was well lit with two rows of torches, so the spell caster set her torch in an empty bracket as they took a break.

When the Barbarian distracted himself with smashing some barrels to see what they contained, the lycanthrope turned back to her and asked his second burning question since the issue had been raised. "Why?"

"It has to do with ancient history in the Time of Troubles, of the Knights of the Westmarch's main mission, two crusades, and what folk normally think of when they spot one of the Priests of Rathma." The confused expression still on the Druid's face made the young woman laugh. "I'll explain it all when we have the time. The Time of Troubles alone takes a good few hours just to summarize, and I only have a very loose grasp of what both orders want from their fellows. Let us just hope that the two of them can ignore each other's perceived faults for a few hours."

* * *

><p>By the time the five of them rejoined each other in the watery daylight of the Graveyard, it was obvious something had passed between the Paladin and the Necromancer, but no one could even suggest it had been a good thing. They had taken up the art of blatantly ignoring each other as if the other was not there.<p>

Both the holy knight and the priest of the dead remained silent about what had gone on underground, they simply handed off whatever they were having trouble carrying to one of the others. The Sorceress and the Druid exchanged an alarmed look, but they both silently decided that nothing they did at the moment would ease whatever tension was between the two men.

With a nervous cough, the young woman dug through her pack to retrieve her Tome of Town Portal from under a pair of unidentified heavy gloves she had picked up. "I suggest we relocate to the Rogue's Encampment immediately to inform Kashya the news of her fellow Rogues." When no one objected either with personal reasons or opinions, she opened the book and pulled out one of the prepared scrolls and broke open the seal on the parchment.

The Barbarian bounded through first, dutifully ignoring whatever tension had gripped the group as unimportant as getting a hot meal. Letting the Sorceress go next, the Druid gave the two men glaring at each other a wary look before following them through the portal. With gritted teeth, the Paladin made a mocking bow and swept an arm to the glimmering blue rift in space, inviting the pale mage to go first. Glaring at the knight, the Necromancer made some gesture to his undead minions to follow.

As the last one still on the field of battle, the Paladin looked around at the newly disturbed gravesites and the blood spattered ground. Most of the blood that had been spilled was dark and rancid, meaning it was the blood of the undead. There were splashes of brighter and cleaner looking crimson, which had been ripped from the bodies of his companions in sparse amounts. He had to admit to a certain amount of satisfaction of a job well done at the sight of the now peaceful Graveyard, but the mage they had found this day worried him.

With one last glance to ensure that everything was as it was suppose to be, the knight saluted the graves of the fallen before joining the others through the portal.


	3. Act I, Quest III

**Disclaimer** : Obviously not mine, but the ten year love/hate affair with the game is.

**Rating** : The game is rated MA, so the fic will have to follow with a M for violence and graphic gore.

**Author's Note** : Yes, the henchmen will have names, simply because there are way too many eventual hirelings than join up, and I'm going to let the heroes keep all of them. Though they will report to a different hero each time we get a new one. This one, the Rogue Archer, I think will report to the Sorceress. Depends on how this act works out in the end. And, um... this got long. I mean, _really_ long. Any quest that turns out larger than this chapter will probably be done in more than one part.

* * *

><p><strong>Act I – The Sightless Eye<strong>

**Quest III – The Search for Cain**

**PASSING** the Sorceress, who had deviated her normal routine to converse with Kashya about Blood Raven's final fate, the Druid made his way to Akara first.

His spirit wolves milling at his feet, he caught sight of the Priestess' worried face. The older woman spotted him nearly at the same time and hastened to meet him.

"It is clear that we are facing an Evil difficult to comprehend, let alone combat. There is only one Horadrim Sage, schooled in the most arcane history and lore, who could help us... his name is Deckard Cain. You must travel to Tristram, and find him; I can only pray that he is still alive."

The Sorceress, who had by this time finished whatever conversation she had with Kashya and had, followed by one of the numerous Rogue Archers milling about in the camp, walked up to them in time to catch the last of the Priestess' words. "I thought Tristram was destroyed? How would we even get there, much less search for survivors?"

"How will you find Cain without going to Tristram? Finding the Tree of Inifuss is the first step on your journey." The older woman shook her hooded head. "Tristram is too far to journey by foot... Cain would likely be dead, when you arrived. However, there is a magical portal that will take you there instantly. To open it, one must stand within the Circle of Cairn Stones and touch them in a certain order. The proper order can be found in the runes written on the bark of the Tree of Inifuss. You must find the sacred Tree of Inifuss and bring back it's bark. I will translate the runes to unlock the Stones' mystic pattern."

The Druid and the Sorceress exchanged a look, before the spellcaster looked to the Rogue that had followed her. "Kyoko, you know the lay of these lands. Where can these places be found?"

"Ma'am, the Stones are in the Stony Field, and the Tree is rumored to lie in the Dark Wood, but the only way to get to the Dark Wood is through the Underground Passage, a cavern that links the two areas. We traveled through it when we abandoned the Monastery." The Rogue shifted her grip on her bow nervously. "A number of our sisters died scouting ahead in that dark place. It's now filled with corrupted Rogues and demons of several sorts."

With a grimace, the brunette looked to her lycan companion. "If this is truly time sensitive, we should split again. One group to search the Stony Field, and one to find the Tree of Inifuss."

"I take it you do not wish to place the Paladin with the Necromancer again?" The auburn haired man rubbed at the stubble on his jaw as he eyed the Rogue standing before them. "That did not work out so well the first time."

"No, I do not." With a heavy sigh, she bid farewell to Akara before she walked over to the center of the Rogue Encampment. Standing next to the fire pit with the Druid, she looked to find the others. The Necromancer and the Barbarian were conversing with Gheed, to the merchant's horror and the wild warrior's delight. The Paladin was talking to Warriv a bit away from where they stood. "We should leave the Barbarian and the Necromancer to search the Stony Field together since they seem to get along well. We'll take the Paladin with us through the Underground Passage. Kyoko, will you mind staying with the others? They would need someone skilled with a ranged weapon to assist them."

The Rogue looked over to where the two in question were dealing with the greasy merchant. After a moment of glaring at the yellow robed man, she nodded. "If that is what you would have me do."

"Take my bow, it is enchanted to lace all arrows shot from it with fire." The Sorceress said as she unslung the weapon in question from her back and handed it off. "Tell them to meet up with us here when they have completed what they need to pick up for an extended jaunt."

Kyoko nodded before walking off to introduce herself to the two men. Leaving the three to become acquainted, the brunette, with the Druid in tow, walked over to where Warriv was standing with the Paladin and asked the older man what he had heard about Tristram. The caravan leader nodded thoughtfully to the question posed to him. "Months ago, I came across a few survivors from Tristram. They said that Cain had gone half-mad, and could no longer distinguish fact from fantasy."

"Why do you ask?" Asked the holy knight, and the Sorceress left the Druid to fill the man in on the latest quest the Rogues had given them. She walked back to where the Barbarian, the Necromancer, and the Rogue were now standing next to the fire pit to do the same.

The pale mage was indifferent to the quest, he would help only because the orders that brought him here had him dealing with the undead roaming the region anyways and greater numbers could only help in his own quest. He was, however, slightly grateful that he would not be left with the Paladin for their part in the search. "We'll take your portal back to the Graveyard, and continue the exploration of the Cold Plains then. That should leave your group with enough time to find the Underground Passage, and to start in on your search for this tree before we start looking for the Stones."

"Collect what you would need then, before you leave. There is a way point near the passage to the Bloody Moors you can use to get back if you do not wish to carry any scrolls of portals linked to this site. We'll use it to return to the Plains and head out from there. Look for another in the Stony Field, and we'll do the same in the Dark Woods."

The Necromancer nodded to her, then headed to Akara for his supplies. The Barbarian grabbed onto the Rogue and dragged her towards the blacksmith. "You will need armor, lassie. Charsi has a good selection for those bound outside of the walls."

* * *

><p>Fully kitted out for a long jaunt through the wilderness, and with a few new pieces of armor and weaponry at hand, the Sorceress, the Druid, and the Paladin used the way point in the Cold Plains. After shaking off the disquieting sensation of old magics, the holy knight pointed the tip of his new saber in the direction they had found the passage to the Field. "This is our path, then."<p>

Gripping her mentor's old short staff, the spell caster used it to press herself upright. "True. Do we wish to keep close to the border or make straight for the pass?"

"We should keep to the stone walls." Looking around, the Druid shook his head after his perusal of their surroundings. "We need to move fast. Your Rogue friend said the pathway worn into the ground would lead us to the Passage, so we'll take that straight to this cavern."

"Lead on then, Sir Knight."

(ooo000ooo)

The second group left the Graveyard straight away, having already cleared out the remainders of the undead there from both the Graveyard proper, and the two structures stationed on either side of the graves. About a mile into their journey, continuing from the passage from the Graveyard to the side of the Plains that the Barbarian and the others had not come from in search of Blood Raven, the three of them came across a large camp of Fallen Demons. Four shamans kept resurrecting the numbers killed by the Barbarian and the Necromancer's skeleton and golem summons, while the Rogue and the pale mage himself tried to take out a fire enchanted shaman that had the unique skill of resurrecting the other shamans when one was finally killed.

The fight was ugly, long, and brutal, for when the Priest of the Dead's Clay golem closed in with the gold skinned Shaman, the monster exploded in a shower of gore and guts, taking out the moving construct of earth. That death meant the Rogue's arrows and the Necromancer's throwing daggers could reach the other shamans without worrying that they would just be resurrected after they died, but it cut down on the number of fighters available to keep the lesser demons from closing in on the ranged members of the group.

A good five minutes were needed in hacking away at the veritable legion of red skinned demons, thinning out the ranks so the Rogue could take out the last of the shamans. The Necromancer changed from throwing his knives to using them in a more mundane manner of slitting the throats of the Fallen being revived nearby, letting the wild warrior attract more attention away from himself and the woman standing at his back.

As the Barbarian and the skeletons chased down the straggling Fallen near the end of the encounter, the Archer and the pale mage took a breather in the middle of the now ruined camp, taking the odd occasional shot to deter or kill other demons from sneaking back. Kicking at the shattered remains of one of his own skeletons, and summoning another golem to replace the summons that had fallen, the Necromancer scowled at the gore soaking into the ground. "This was unpleasant. Not one undead to be seen, and a number of my minions have fallen already."

"These demons would have wandered around and may have paired up with some wandering zombie in order to raid travelers." The Rogue pointed out helpfully, drawing back the string on the Sorceress' old bow to shoot another Fallen between the eyes, a flash of fire springing to life and setting the dead demon's hair on fire. "And now you have more bodies to summon more skeletons as well."

The mage arched a pale brow, not used to having others around that were indifferent to his means of magical summoning. Mostly, he gained looks of disgust when spotted wandering with a legion of undead soldiers, not some platitudes about how a fight had just happened to turn out. He sighed, and figured he should get used to it, seeing as he would be traveling with this group for the foreseeable future, especially if they intended to work their way farther into the wilds.

The Barbarian bounded back from wherever he had wandered off to in search of more escaping Fallen. "Comrades! There is a cave not too far from where we now stand. Do we rout out the evil that has taken up residence, or do we continue on?"

"The walking dead prefer the dark to the reach of the sun, but we should wait until the sun is higher to guide us." Counting the number of throwing knives he had left, and checking the heavier dagger he had stashed in his belt, the Necromancer motioned for the wild warrior to lead them on. "Let us see what manner of monsters lay in wait for us beyond this camp."

(ooo000ooo)

Having reached the gap in the low stone wall that lined the edges of the Cold Plains, meeting with very little to slow them down, the first group stopped at the beginning of the Stoney Field. The Paladin pointed out a pair of goat like men that had attacked him when he first scouted out the way. "I am unsure what these claim to be, but they travel in groups no more than two."

"Dose it matter? They stand in our way regardless." Dismissing the corpses of half-animal men, the Sorceress took a few steps down the pathway the Rogue Archer had mentioned, the Druid only a few steps behind.

"Nervous?" The lycan asked as his wolves ranged ahead with the holy knight.

"More like worried." The brunette spell caster slowed her pace and let the Paladin lead the three farther into the Field. "If the Rogues themselves had trouble traveling the same Passage we are bound, what manner of demons await us in the dark? I found in the Den that my fire magics only light up the caverns so far, and this Passage is supposed to be longer. Anything could hide in the shadows there."

"I have been meaning to ask," mused the Druid slowly, "do your magics extend to another element as well? Fire is all well and good, but it is unpleasant to have thrown past one's muzzle."

She quirked a small smile at the wild mage's jest. "I had some skill with cold magics when I was training. Do you wish me to change spells? I have a cold spell that would do just as well as my fire skills."

The shape shifter blinked at her. "Ice? I have fur that would guard me from that, and that at least will not set my pelt ablaze with any stray embers."

"We will see about that. You may not like it any better." Spotting the Paladin and the spirit wolves sprinting on ahead, the Sorceress gripped her mentor's staff harder. "We seem to have guest."

"I suppose we should greet them." A flash of light surrounded the wild mage, and in his werewolf form he loped off to join his pack and the knight in their fight with a number of Foul Crows and some Skeletons headed their way. The spell caster started summoning her cold magics to deal with the Foul Crow Nest father up the road.

(ooo000ooo)

Both groups stopped not long after, when the light of the sun started to become lost in the upper reaches of the trees. They all set up a rotating watch with the onset of dusk, splitting up the night in three parts. The Barbarian's group deemed it safe enough to build a fire, as they had looped around the Plains and was now next to the Cave, but the Paladin's decided to do without.

As usual, a cold and drenching rain swept up from the east with the fall of the sun, and while the group left to explore the Cold Plains had a convenient shelter nearby in the form of the same rocky crevice they had decided to explore, the others had some luck after being soaked through in finding one of the abandoned buildings left by some unnamed homesteader. It had leaks from the heavy rain drumming on the roof, but was better than nothing.

Cramming a Druid, his three spirit wolves, a Sorceress, and a fully armed and armored Paladin within the cramped wooden quarters had proven to be more than interesting. The wild mage's tree spirit and some type of living poison vine he had summoned recently both didn't care if it was raining or not, and while that helped, there was still some issue of who would sleep where. The holy knight offered the spellcaster the narrow cot, but she decided she would rather curl up with the Druid's wolves, seeing as the Paladin was taking the mid night watch and would need the help.

Both groups got underway early the next morning, as soon as the overcast sky lightened enough for them to see a good distance beyond what they could during the night.

* * *

><p>The Barbarian ventured farther into the Cave than where he and the other two of his group spent the night, confirming his suspicions that someone else had reached the rocky fissure underground before they had. A number of corpses littered the ground, giving off the same stench he had caught whiffs of the night before. There were a good number of red skinned demons and a few re-dead zombies that had been left where they had fallen.<p>

Returning to where the Rogue and the Necromancer were tiding up their temporary camp, he reported what he had found.

Blinking bemusedly, the Archer shook her head. "I haven't heard of too many people getting permission from Flavie to journey past her, except for that Amazon she spotted nearly a fortnight ago."

"I have not dealt with a Rogue by the name of Flavie." The pale mage smirked at the surprised expression on Kyoko's face. "So, if there is anyone else is in the Plains, your guard might not know of them."

The Barbarian clapped his hands together, to regain his companions' attention. "Do we venture forward or not?"

"May as well." The Archer shrugged. "Whoever it is may need some help."

"The dead could still walk in the dark, and we never know what aims another holds without meeting them."

Giving the two of them a nod, the wild warrior started to follow the trail of bodies farther into the Cave.

(ooo000ooo)

After collecting their scattered belongings, including freeing the living vine from where it had caught on the wooden house's foundation, the Druid, the Sorceress, and the Paladin continued on down the road the Rogue had promised lead to the Underground Passage. They caught sight of the rocky cliff it was told to circumvent before the sun rose beyond the cloud cover, near mid morning.

The path lead straight into the lee of one of the cliff's faces, and the entrance to the Passage squatted there like a black blight on a sea of gray rock.

The three of them stopped and regrouped before the crag, checking that they had what they wanted in their possession before entering the underground. Inspecting the entrance and how dark it seemed to be inside, the Paladin shook his armored head. "We may need you to shift to your fire magics, my lady. I know you do not like them, Druid, but there seems to be little to no light beyond a few torches."

"If you must." The lycan frowned at the darkness concealing the way. He was not as fond of the spellcaster's fire magic as he was of her cold spells. They tended to burn a lot less. His pack caught on to his unease and whined fitfully behind him.

The Sorceress simply shook her head with a small, amused smile. If you had asked her years ago, she would have told any that asked that she would use whatever spell was more effective against the monsters she was fighting, not simply a sole element because a sometimes half-furry man had asked her to use ice magic instead of the type that burned his fur in patches. "If we can find a club, or even a stout branch, I can turn it into a torch. We may need more than one, depending on how far this tunnel goes."

The spirit wolves behind the three immediately scattered, and loped back after a few minutes with a stick gripped in each jaw.

Pursing her lips, she took the sticks from the spirits and placed two of them in her pack. She then lit the last one on fire with a small burst of magic, and turned to the males of the group. "I, and the torches, are ready, if there are no other problems you can foresee."

The Paladin grinned at the inventive solution to the issue, and took the torch from her after setting his small shield on his back. "Then follow me."

(ooo000ooo)

The Barbarian, the Rogue, and the Necromancer didn't spot the individual who had entered the Cave before them until they ran into her in a smaller pocket cavern even further underground. The blond warrior was hip deep in Fallen, and trying to throw her javelins at the shamans at the same time as fend off the smaller demons trying to mob her.

The Archer immediately took aim at the left most shaman while the Necromancer focused in on the right one. The wild warrior yelled out a battle cry and crashed into the ranks of small demons to help the woman about to be overwhelmed with the pale mage's undead forces crowding behind him.

It took the four of them a number of hard fought minutes to even be able to hear one another over the din of battle echoing off the cavern walls, but when she caught a lull in the fighting, the Amazon shouted a thanks to the Barbarian fighting nearby.

With the four of them, as well as the four summons of the Necromancer's, it still took them most of an hour to hunt down and eliminate the remaining monsters in the lower level. They regrouped, the women having gone off in one direction and the men in another, in a small tunnel situated behind the crag they used to get down there.

The Amazon lanced the demon the Barbarian had been hunting down as a greeting. "You three have my thanks for the timely arrival."

"You need not thank us, but if you're interested, we are helping the Rogues in a quest, and could always use another fighter." The Barbarian responded with a grin and a sharp nod as he replaced his axes in his belt.

Arching a pale brow, she looked from one of the three to the other. "I have no current employer to whom I owe my time, so why not?"

(ooo000ooo)

Tossing another handful of magically summoned ice into the face of another of the Misshapen trying to flank the Paladin, the Sorceress spun out of the grips of the Vile Hunter trying to cleave her head from her body using the sword in her hand. One of the Druid's wolves bounded past her to sink it's teeth into the green tinted corrupted Rogue as a second wolf sprinted past all three of them and jumped a Skeleton Archer standing father down the natural tunnel.

The last wolf was fighting at the heels of the werewolf as he helped the holy knight hack away at a Ghostly Misshapen.

Their torch had been abandoned on the ground, the faint amount of light it had given off had spluttered to nothing, plunging the three of them into the near dark, the walls only lit by soft blue flairs of cold magic being tossed around. This was only the second time they had to drop the light in order to fight, the first was when they encountered a pair of demon Fallen tribes, with seven blue skinned demons aiding their crimson cousins.

That time, the torch had not made a difference, seeing as the small sized demons needed just as much light as the humans did. This time, they not only had the dead, who needed no light to see, but a number of corrupted Rogues that had grown used to the dim cavern as well as the twisted demons they now fought, who needed just a little light to see them.

Frustrated by the crawling pace of the skirmish, the brunette spellcaster gripped her mentor's staff harder and tried a spell she had only seen one other preform before. Calling on the cold magic she had been using, the woman internalized the magic and compressed it around her body until it exploded out of her in a violent ring of frost. The Vile Hunter under the claws of the spirit wolf exploded into icy shards, and the transparent Misshapen that was fighting both of the men froze in place.

The Druid swung his claws at the demon's head, grunting when the monster exploded all over him and the knight just like the corrupted Rogue had under his wolf's jaw.

Looking behind them, the Paladin tilted his head at the sheepish looking Sorceress standing there. "Did you know you could do that?"

"I wasn't sure, really." She stooped to take the half burnt branch from one of the spirit wolves' jaw and re-lit it with a small burst of magic that made her head spin and her stomach heave. "But without my fire skills, that was my only other possible higher skilled spell I could use." She handed off the re-lit torch back to the holy knight and dug another of her Mana potions out of her sash, hopeful that what afflicted her was simply mana drain and not the indication of a poisoning.

The two men waited politely as she downed the navy blue liquid inside and dropped the empty bottle before starting to pick up their pace. They had not gotten very far, the Druid's connection to green and growing things telling them they had gotten less than a mile and a half in a few hours in the twisty Underground Passage. Being waylaid by the various monsters in the dark was slowing them down considerably.

With the spirit wolves at the front, placed there to take down the unusual number of undead archers sulking about the caverns, the Paladin took the middle of the path with the two others at either side and the last two of the Druid's summons trailing behind. They kept to the left side of the tunnels, a method of exploring decided well before during a quiet lull in the evening when they were settling down for the night.

They got quite a ways like that until the wolves ran into something they could not take down before the holy knight arrived on their heels. A knot of Vile Hunters, lead by one that had a glowing ring around her booted feet, massed before the group in a solid wall of corrupted flesh, steel, and leather before a crevice in the walls that looked to lead out of the cave.

(ooo000ooo)

The Necromancer pulled a face at the half rotted, bloated corpse of the goat like creature laying out in the sun. "What, by the Hells themselves, _is _that?"

"A Moon Clan, Goat-men, and some rather nasty marauders." The Rogue carefully stepped around the dead half-demon and swept the surroundings for any alive, or half-alive, foes. "I don't know much about them, other than they are a menace around the Field and beyond. They don't normally venture into the Plains. That was why we went all the way to the Bloody Moors to set up our Encampment."

With a snort, the Barbarian picked up the ax lying nearby, apparently wielded by the creature before it's demise, and hefted it to test it's balance. "Goats are good to eat, but not even I would attempt to eat that."

"_That_ would probably try to kill you if you tried to eat it." The Amazon lifted an arm with the tip of her javelin, grimacing in disgust when a wet tearing sound precluded the separation of the demon's decomposing arm from the rest of his putrid remains. "We could try to cook it up for you, but I don't see any way that could end well."

Shaking his head, the pale mage gripped a few more of his throwing daggers and pulled them from his belt. "We should continue. There is no telling when the others will find this tree."

The blond warrior let the limb slid off her weapon. "Speaking of, none of you have told me exactly what it is we are questing for."

"We are searching for two things. One, a way point that we can use to get back to the Encampment." Kyoko finished her sweep of the surroundings and deemed enough of the monsters that had taken up residence in the Field dead to relax her guard for a moment. "The second is a circle of Cairn Stones, that we will use when the others find the Tree of Inifuss and return with it's bark to travel to the ruins of Tristram."

"Tristram? The town that fell not too long ago when some adventure came out of the Cathedral there stark raving mad and unleashed a legion of dark creatures on the townsfolk? That Tristram? The town where everyone simply ran for it, and left their valuables behind?" The Amazon, still thinking like the mercenary she had become in the world outside of her home isles, grinned widely at the company she now found herself in. "Well, well. This will be fun."

"Do try to control yourself." Snarled the Necromancer. "We are journeying there to find the Horadrim Sage called Deckard Cain and rescue him if need be, not to loot the rubble."

"Can't we do both?" Shot back the blond warrior as she struck off in a random direction. "Nothing says that saving the unfortunate need be charity work."

(ooo000ooo)

Splattered with the gore of numerous demons and undead, the Druid, the Sorceress, and the Paladin stumbled out into the early afternoon light and into the Dark Woods. As soon as the last spirit wolf was clear of the passageway, the spellcaster slung a rapid number of Ice Blast spells back the way the group had run.

The death screeches of the Vile Hunters on their heels sounded from the dark depths in response.

The brunette slumped to the ground with a disgusted groan and fumbled in her sash for her store of potions, exhausted of both her stamina and magics to a dangerous point, as the werewolf and his summons scouted the immediate part of the forest they had come out into and the holy knight guarded the crack in the earth they had emerged from.

By the time the Druid and his pack had returned, the Paladin had dealt with only two of the Vile Hunters the Sorceress had missed. Panting heavily, the shape shifter knelt down next to the female mage and let his spirit wolves take care of posting guard. "That was unpleasant. Is there to be more of the like barring our way?"

"Hopefully not. Given that there are only so many rocks to hide behind in a forest, I doubt it." The brunette cast aside the last potion bottle that had contained her mana potion, scowling because that left her with just the magic she had now. "We have two options, my good sirs. We can retreat for now, using one of my portals, or continue on and hope this Tree we are searching for is close at hand."

Finally letting his sword arm drop when it became apparent that there were no more monsters following them into the light, the holy knight sighed and rolled his neck to crack it back into place. "I agree with the lady. There is no way what lies ahead can be as trying as what now lies behind us. For one, we can see farther ahead than in that pit. I vote we continue."

"After a small break." The lycan interjected, waving one massive paw at the both of them. "I am in desperate need of one, and I can smell fresh water somewhere to the north. Ah, and..." the wild mage dug into the fur around his waist and handed a few of the blue potions to the Sorceress, "I found a few more of these, on those little spiky rats that are so common here."

"Thank the Zann Esu elders." Breathed the woman as she took one of the procured vials of mana potions and attached it to the tie located at her waist.

Blinking in confusion, the Druid handed the fragile glass vessels one by one as the spellcaster attached them to her sash. "Thank the who?"

"The name of my clan is the Zann Esu. A coven of pure elemental witches." She grinned as she took the last two of the mana potions the werewolf had scrounged up for her. "I and my, ah... mentor were sent out because our clan oracles have divined that the time of Emergence is at hand, and we are to prove that pure elemental magic can triumph over the Evil that now walks the lands of Sanctuary."

A flash of amber light and a slight up lifting of the wind signaled the return of the Druid's more human looking form. He frowned thoughtfully, now able to do so without barring most if not all of his fangs, as the Paladin looked over to the brunette in question. "I was unaware you have a mentor, milady."

"I do not. At least, any more." She gave them a bitter smile. "She was killed by demons the night before I met you, Sir Knight."

"Erm... my apologies." The dark skinned warrior shifted a bit uncomfortably in his studded leather armor for a quite moment, dismayed that he may have brought up memories better left alone. "We should at least make our way to the source of water you can scent, my friend, if we are to properly rest for whatever else lives in these woods."

The Druid nodded, unsure if he wanted to try and salvage that conversation or not, and set off to the north, leading the other two and his summons to an ancient well.

(ooo000ooo)

Letting his skeletal warriors mill about, chasing down a number of Fallen demons that had scattered after he had killed their shaman, the Necromancer wandered over to some stonework that seemed to be poorly resisting the effects of both weather and time. Keeping only part of his attention on his undead minions and their progress, he picked up a glint of gold out of the corner of his eye and spotted an ornate book that was almost too moldy and decayed to touch. Using the dagger he kept in his belt, the pale mage pried the book open to a random page and started reading.

'_...and so it came to pass that the Countess, who once bathed in the rejuvenating blood of a hundred virgins, was burned alive. And her castle, in which so many cruel deeds took place, fell rapidly to ruin. Rising over the buried dungeons in that god-forsaken wilderness, a solitary tower, like some monument to Evil, is all that remains._

_The Countess's fortune was believed to be divided among the clergy, although some say that more remains unfound, still buried alongside the rotting skulls that bear mute witness to the inhumanity of the human creature._'

He considered the passage, what other crimes the Countess had to have committed in order to have such a heavy judgment as being burned while still living brought down on her, and wondered if what the book spoke of about the rapid decay of the castle was linked to dark magic or not.

With an irritated grunt, he decided that it probably meant his orders would take him to the ruins of the tower simply to ensure no undead had joined the Countess' spirit in her earthly grave. Using his dagger, he pried the book from the stand it had somehow miraculously survived on, wrapped it in a length of cloth he was sure was some type of sash, and stuck it in his pack in time to see the warriors of the group approach his position.

The Amazon arched her eyebrow at his actions, but addressed them all. "I believe I may have found this circle of stones you are searching for. North a ways lie six tall stones, with five in a circle and one more standing off to one side. There is a small problem, though."

"We need those stones, whichever problem you have spotted can always be solved by a sharp blade." As if to give more weight to his words, the Barbarian shook off some of the gore stuck to his axes and turned to face north.

"Hold, my large friend." Kyoko placed one calloused hand on the wild warrior's arm to keep him from taking off without the rest of them. "What kind of problem?"

The blond islander sighed and took a seat next to the moss covered, crumbling wall. "I took a few shots at the demons prowling around your stones, simply to test how easy it would be to attack, and one of them radiates sharp bolts of lightning when my spear hit him. Not only that, but there is a camp of the little Fallen Ones set up not at all far up the road."

"That is not a _small_ problem." Crossing his arms over his chest, the Priest of the Dead sneered down at her. "A small problem would be a Fallen Shaman and it's pack that had taken up residence in our objective, or that there seemed to be a roving horde of zombies milling about between there and here."

The Archer pressed her lips together and glared at the irritable pale mage. "We understand that there just may be differences within your levels of difficulty, but that does not call for such a tone."

Ignoring the Necromancer's surly attitude, the Amazon propped one arm on her knee and looked to the impatient and patient, respectively, Barbarian and Rogue. "We could attempt to circle around the Stones and try to remove the demons from the camp before attempting to assault the enchanted ones."

"Then that is what we do." Readjusting his grip on his axes, the wild warrior looked at the Archer's grip on his forearm. "May we please get to the fighting _now_?"

(ooo000ooo)

Not too far beyond the well the Druid had led them too, was a clump of closely growing trees that had been infested with legions of demons and the damned.

After muttering a quick Prayer for himself and his comrades under his breath, the Paladin dove into the new conflict with renewed zeal, hacking at whatever came close to his sword's reach. On his heels charged the Druid and his pack, intending to ignore the lesser demons and make straight for the shamans they could catch only glimpses of through the tightly packed trees. The Sorceress followed them both at a slower pace, using her cold spells to alternately freeze the nearby monsters and blast the occasional ranged or fleeing undead or demon.

It took them nearly an hour to clear out the clustered section of forest, as a version of skeletons armed with bows had marched to where they could catch the three with arrows if they proved unwary and more of the corrupted Rogues had tried to run them down between the trees.

They started with both the end closest to the well and the middle, and continued on until they ran out of forest to search through. By the time they reached open sky again, their boots were caked with the blood of nearly a hundred demons, as well as dusty and gore ridden from the undead and Rogues.

Trying to shake off the worst of it coating her, the Sorceress gave a disgusted look to her lycan companion as what looked like brain matter slid off her arm. "Must you use a club? I do not see how much it can help you, given that you spend most of your time furry and howling."

"Since you were so accommodating to my dislike of your fire magic, I do have a Mace I picked up underground I can use." The werewolf snickered at her huff of irritation. "I found an ax that I will switch to. I was going to give it to my brother in spirit, but this does seem like a more noble cause."

A grin was trying to fight it's way onto the spellcaster's lips, and in retaliation she slung most of the gore coating her arms at the Druid.

It simply joined the blood already staining the wild mage's fur dark red and black.

The Paladin just rolled his eyes as he listened to them bicker while leading them farther into the Woods.

A howl cut them off, a terrible and unforgettable sound echoed a moment later by two other wails. Raising his saber to a guard position before him, the holy knight turned to face the direction the soul haunting sound had come from. "Gargantuan Beasts. Wonderful."

"That first one sounded... a little off."

Whatever else the Sorceress had to add was cut off as one gold and two silver giants barreled straight into them. She had to dive off to her left to avoid being crushed under the boulder like fist of one of them, rolling into a kneeling position and started to fling her spells at her attacker.

The Paladin was thrown off his feet by the golden giant beast that had targeted him, he had interposed his shield between himself and the backhanded slap aimed for him just in time. He lost his shield from the blow, the metal had buckled and was lying on the ground in two pieces, and it was all he could do to prevent himself from getting hit.

Having had marginally more time than his fellow companions to prepare himself, the Druid attacked the one that had aimed for him before it could draw back it's own arm. Two of his wolves joined in, ripping at whatever flesh they could grip in their jaws. The third darted back to harry the beast trying to catch the nimble young woman, clawing a good chunk of flesh out of the monster's leg when it tried to hit the spellcaster again. The two of them chipped away at the Gargantuan Beasts, felling them in short order with the aid of the wolves and rushing to their warrior's defense.

Even with his best footwork, the holy knight was more than sure he had broken his shield arm somewhere. The gold beast, whenever it hit the ground, flung up rocks and other forest debris with shocking force that had caused more punctures in his armor than he was certain the skeletal archers had with their arrows.

He gained some breathing room when all three of the Druid's wolves leaped up and caught parts of the monster in their jaws, their larger alpha using his claws to rip into the beast's thick furry back, trying to sever or at least weaken the arms. Before the creature could attempt to grab one of the fury creatures hurting it, a series of consecutive blasts of ice impacted it, causing the frozen water to cling to the matted fur and for the exposed parts of the beast to turn blue.

The Paladin reversed his grip on his sword and rushed the beast, driving the blade into the Gargantuan Beast's chest. The monster roared, but started to struggle with the canines' grip on it. Darting in between the men, the Sorceress delivered a solid kick to the hilt of the sword, driving the length of metal far enough into the monster's heart to force it to it's knees.

With a despairing moan, the creature sank to the ground. The spirit wolves let go cautiously, circling around their prey to ensure it was dead.

The creature had fallen face first, and only the very tip of the bloodstained saber could be seen poking out from under the thick fur.

With a sigh, the Sorceress rubbed the bridge of her nose. "I will buy you a new one." Looking around for something to distract the men with, she spotted some large type of dead tree in the distance, situated in a clearing from where the beasts had come from. "But I believe our journey is almost at an end."

The Paladin flattened his lips, looking from his ruined shield to the corpse of the monster. "I would hope so."

(ooo000ooo)

Their plan had almost worked. While hunting down the demon stragglers that had set up the camp, the small blue skinned demons grouped around the Cairn Stones spotted the four and charged to them. As the Amazon and the Barbarian turned to meet them head on, the Necromancer summoned a few more skeletons to replace what had already fallen as the Archer fitted arrows to her bow as fast as she could to take out the remaining number of red Fallen Ones.

The wild warrior grunted as the shock hit him, the small Carver that had produced the effect raising his own sword and shouting out "Rakanishu!" on top of his squeaky voice to rally his fellows.

A sneer twisted the warrior's face, and he delivered a two handed chop to the neck of the demon. The shock from the hit made the large man grit his teeth against the pain that ran through him, but he grimly smiled at the results of his blow.

The monster's head thudded to the ground, shortly followed by the rest of the demon's body, and the Fallen and remaining Carvers fled.

"That was not a war cry!" Thundered the Barbarian, glowering in the direction the little demons had run as he shook off the last of the effects from killing the enchanted monster. "I will show you a war cry!" He took off after them, sinking one of his two axes into the backs of the red Fallen and blue Carvers as he got closer. The Amazon kept her position, circling around the two ranged fighters and ensuring they had enough space to fight with. By the time the Barbarian loped back, bloody but grinning, most if not all of the remaining demons had been killed.

The blond warrior kicked over a small body that happened to be one of the shamans. "Well, that could have gone better."

Shrugging, the Rogue set about to find any salvageable arrows for her quiver. "Could have gone worse."

"True, we could have been overrun and slaughtered, or taken captive and been eaten alive bit by bit." He kicked over what looked to be a gnawed on human femur bone sticking out of one of the animal hide tents to punctuate his words, then the Necromancer grinned evilly at the others. "Wonder if they start with the ends of the limbs, or just go in for the throat to start with?"

"You're the eternally cheerful sort, aren't you?" The Amazon shook her head at him and looked over at the wild warrior. "What else are we looking for?"

Pausing in his work of checking over the blades of his axes, the Barbarian frowned thoughtfully. He was the only member of the group that had seen a way point work, even if he hadn't used it himself. "A square stone platform with circular carvings set in the ground. I believe I know the process to activate it, but I would prefer to leave that sorcery to those who dabble in it."

* * *

><p>Returning from the Stony field, the four encountered their comrades, who had returned from the Dark Woods a few hours previously, trying to remove the worst of the blood and guts fouling their equipment and marked with a number of new, pale pink scars lacing over their exposed skin. The Sorceress had the Paladin's armor, the knight himself his own boots, while the Druid cleaned the pelt of fur that normally hung from his shoulders. Each of them had visited the river at different times, but had remained in their bloodstained, but no longer gore encrusted, clothing for the time being.<p>

Dropping heavily next to the auburn haired wild mage, the Barbarian grinned at the dark red splotches staining the leather in the spellcaster's hand. "Had fun, did you?"

The Sorceress simply raised a dark brow in answer as she concentrated on scrubbing the drying flakes of what looked like brain matter off.

Looking over the newcomer, the Paladin dug a fragment of bone out of the sole of his left boot and addressed all of them. "We have the translated runes for the Cairn Stones from Akara, whenever you all are ready we will set out for Tristram." He reached over and poked the elemental mage in the side. "I will need a new sword before we leave."

She scowled at him, but got up anyways. "The same as before, or would you like something else?"

Before the holy knight could answer, the Rogue spoke up. "Why does she owe you a sword?"

"The same if you can." The dark skinned warrior said in reply to the Sorceress, then shot the Archer a grin when he judged the spellcaster was far enough away. "She used it to kill a particularity difficult monster after I stuck it in it's chest. But the damned thing fell on top of the hilt, and we were unable to retrieve it."

"It was an impressive kick." Added the Druid without looking up from carefully wiping the blood out of his fur with a wet rag. "One of us may have gotten more injured without her interference." His nose twitched, cataloging the new scent and catching a glance of the blond woman standing near the Necromancer's skeletons.

The woman in question looked to the Barbarian. "Where would I find a blacksmith here?"

"Follow the Sorceress, she's headed there." Gesturing in the direction the other woman had gone, the wild warrior finished cleaning his axes and sunk the blades into the soft ground. "Charsi is the blacksmith for the Rogues."

A bob and a swish of long blond hair marked the Amazon's answer, as she nodded and turned to follow the green and black clad mage.

The Paladin cast a questioning glance at her back, but turned back to the other two... or rather one, the Necromancer had walked away during the conversation and was already headed for Akara with his undead in tow. "Kyoko, are you set for another jaunt, or do you need more arrows?"

After checking her quivers, the Rogue simply shook her head and took a seat across from the males. "I am fine, Sir Knight."

* * *

><p>The Necromancer had to be the one to activate the way point to the Stony Field, seeing as the Sorceress had activated the enchanted stone in both the Cold Plains and the Dark Woods, but not that area's way point. When the seven arrived the Barbarian and the Amazon took point, leading the others to where they had marked the Cairn Stones to be on a rough map the Necromancer kept out of habit.<p>

The less magically inclined remained outside of the circle of stones as the three mages conversed over the scroll of bark that Akara had claimed was the key to summoning the portal.

Pausing in the act of unrolling the scroll, the Sorceress inspected one of the Cairn Stones closely. "These Stones radiate powerful magic."

"Hmm, such stones are common back home." The Druid laid a hand on another of the Stones, closing his eyes as the powerful earth magic radiating through it hummed against his palm.

"I sense many spirits about these Stones." With a frown, for that meant the demons they had expelled from the area before had done something related with dark magic there, the Necromancer turned to the elemental mage. "What does the scroll say?"

Kneeling down, the brunette laid the rune inscribed bark flat on the ground and studied the inner side that would have lain close to the Tree of Inifuss. The tingle of magic against her fingers made her jerk her head back in surprise, but she kept her wits and called out the symbols as they lit up before her eyes.

The Priest of the Dead frowned, confused by what it had meant, but the wild mage nodded in understanding. "We need to activate the Stones in the order the scroll gave us." He pointed to the tops of the Stones, where the same symbols on the scroll were carved into the rock. "In the exact order, or we may end up half way to Westmarch."

Touching the first of the Stones, the Sorceress' eyebrows almost joined her hair as the runes on the Stone lit up a glowing blue. "Necromancer, the one directly behind you is next."

They continued in that order, the Druid touched his again, then the female spellcaster activated the one to her left, and the pale mage touched the last one. The sudden fall of darkness, and the bolts and arcs of red energy that lit up the space between the Stones, made all seven freeze; the three inside the circle of Stones to avoid being hit with the strong flashes of magic and the four outside to prevent any action from them adversely affecting the others.

The portal that opened up was red in color, and reflected a visage of the corner of a ruined and burning building as well as several human corpses. The red arcs of energy died down, but the area around the Stones remained darker than what the growing dusk would have that section of the Plains.

Shaking his helmeted head, the Paladin was unsure if he could have remained as still as the three closer to the portal had, he checked over his equipment and drew his new sword. "If we are ready, then."

The other six armed themselves with whatever weapon they preferred and signaled their readiness when they were sure.

Giving them a salute with his saber, the holy knight was the first one through the dimensional rift.

(ooo000ooo)

The Paladin didn't venture too far from where the portal spat him out at, simply moving slightly forward to allow another to enter the rift behind him. He internally winced as he took in the ruins of the once cozy town. "What a tragic end to Tristram."

"It's as if a great war was fought here." The Amazon, who had entered the portal after the Barbarian, had caught the holy knight's observation and looked a little stricken herself at the sight that greeted them.

"The land here is dead and lifeless." Kicking at the scorched ground they were now standing on, the wild warrior shook his head. "I wonder if anything grew before the town was ransacked."

Assisting the Sorceress through the rift, the Druid merely cast a dismissive glance at the still burning structures in sight. "Ahh, yes. Ruin, the fate of all cities."

The elemental mage poked him in the side with her staff. "Tristram was no match for Diablo's fury. Fate has little to nothing to do with this."

"All that's left of proud Tristram is ghosts and ashes." Scowling at the same visage, the Necromancer gave his companions a grim smirk. "It is impolite to mock the dead. Sometimes, they can hear you."

Shaking her head at his words, the spellcaster looked to the warriors of the group. "Do we split up to cover more ground, or do we storm the town square and search from there?"

The Paladin dismissed the idea of splitting their forces. "Given the trouble we had in the Underground Passage, we should remain within sight of one another, in case the number and strength of the monsters we find here is the same. Storming the town square would be equally as foolish, as we don't know yet what Evil remains."

"So, do we start with the river or the stone wall?" Asked the Amazon, one of the three watching for any movement out of the burning town.

The Paladin inspected both options before choosing the river. "All life needs water. We are more likely to encounter anything left alive nearby."

As the holy knight started to sprint along the bank, a flash of light heralded the transformation of the Druid into his werewolf form, then the alpha wolf and his spirit wolves followed on the dark skinned warrior's heels, with a number of undead skeletons tagging along behind. The Amazon and the Barbarian chose to remain closer to the burning husks of the town, but delayed their own pace in order to let the Necromancer, his golem, and the Sorceress get a ways before them. Bringing up the very rear, the Rogue kept looking behind them to ensure there were no foes trying to run up on the group.

They had not traveled more than a few yards before the spirit animals perked up, increasing their speed to out pace the Paladin. They had picked up on the scent of the small demons, and flushed the blue skinned monsters out from their ambush. A shaman with the same blue skin stumbled around a low wall and growled at the animals, not seeing the holy knight until it was too late to save it's head. The Paladin didn't stop, simply used his greater reach to strike out at what came into range. He didn't have to; there were more than enough summoned creatures on his heels to hunt down the Carvers in short order.

It was near the end of the river bank that had once served Tristram as a boarder that the group ran into trouble. A bloody body stumbled out of one of the burning houses closer to town, moaning in the manner of the undead as empty and bleeding eye sockets unseeingly stared in their direction. The shuffling hulk of flesh had once been a man of good size in life, and that extra muscle now would spell trouble for those that got in range of it's massive arms.

Kyoko staggered to a stop and gaped at the corpse stumbling towards them. "Griswold? The _Blacksmith_? How in the _name_ of the All Seeing Eye-"

The Necromancer snapped his fingers before the shocked Rogue. "He's no longer alive now. Nothing you can do about it except send him to his proper rest." As he was speaking, his four skeletons swarmed around the undead blacksmith, only to shatter one by one under the powerful blows from the dead man.

Seeing the fate of the brittle undead warriors, the Paladin chose to evade the next clumsy punch aimed in his direction from Griswold. He had already broken one shield and refused to lose another, as well as the use of his arm, again that same day. The six other companions took heed of his caution, and ringed the walking corpse, trading off attacking the zombie to keep it's attention from focusing on just one of them. On occasion, one of them had to break off to deal with either more of the goat-men or uncontrolled skeletons, attracted by the sounds of combat.

The Druid was down to one wolf and a tree spirit, fairing better than the Necromancer, who had lost all of his summoned minions, before the corpse of the dead man fell to the ground once more and did not get up again to continue attacking. The Paladin wiped his saber's blade on the tatters of what had once been a finely woven shirt as the ranged fighters gathered more ammo and the others dealt with whatever healing or potions they needed. "Shall we head through the town, or continue to see where the boundary takes us?"

Sticking his snout in the air, the wild mage took a few deep breaths before allowing the Sorceress to pour a healing potion down his throat. "I smell something alive and human under all this soot, ash, and demon spoor. I cannot tell where it may be coming from."

"The monsters are trickling in from the direction of town, so we may be able to find this Deckard Cain, if he has any sense, on the edges of this place." Volunteered the Amazon as she inspected a rip in her leather armor.

Frowning thoughtfully, the brunette mage carefully avoided the werewolf's teeth as she poured another potion into his muzzle for him to swallow. "If these demons have taken him hostage or prisoner-"

"Would he even be alive then? How long ago did Tristram's fall?" The Necromancer inspected Griswold's corpse as he spoke, then magically pulled the bones from him and constructed another skeleton to replenish his undead ranks.

"We'll go through the town. If Cain did not at least place the river between himself and the Evil that dwells here, then it may be because he is no longer able to." Grabbing the hilt of his saber again, the Paladin turned to face the ruins still burning in the darkening twilight.

They cautiously made their way into the town square, where they made two discoveries.

One, the Horadrim Sage, Deckard Cain, was still alive. He had been forced into a crude cage and hoisted above the well that sat in the middle of town. The old man even had his wits about him, as he called out to the adventurers for help when he caught sight of them.

Two, the Evil that had ransacked Tristram all those months ago was still in residence.

Three different colored shamans, with a good half a legion of Carvers between them, six skeleton archers, a roving pack of the Night Clan goat-men, and a horde of uncontrolled skeleton fighters surged in their direction at the same time the Sage called out to them.

The Rogue nocked her arrows and fired them as rapidly as she could, aiming for one of the shamans standing close to the well. The pack of spirit wolves dove into the sea of blue skinned demons, followed closely by the skeletons under the Necromancer's control, as the Druid jumped over the heads of the smaller Carvers to get to another of the shamans, his Oak Spirit tagging along behind. The pale mage's golem barreled into the steadily marching skeletons as it's summoner threw his daggers at the archers standing in the gaping doorways of the burning buildings. Darting after the werewolf's path, the Amazon and the Barbarian started striking out at whatever came close to hand as they kept the worst of the press of Evil away from the ranged fighters standing further back. The Paladin, with the Sorceress close behind, started to hack their way to the cage holding Cain using both might and magic.

The slurping sound of soft ground giving way precluded the sprouting of the living Poison Vine, it shot off several brambles into the ranks of the small demons and poisoned a number of them before slinking back into the ground and attacking at another group of monsters. The wolves used the brambles as a spot to take a breather and to find another target, ducking underneath the sturdy branches of the venomous plant to shake off any persistent attackers.

A flair of blue light proceeded the effects of the Sorceress' cold magic, the exploding ring of frost rippled out of her and tore into the ranks of monsters surrounding the stand of Deckard's cage. With the holy knight taking out the remaining numbers close by, the elemental mage fumbled with the heavy lock keeping the Sage in the air. She finally burned the rope with her magic, sending the older man crashing to the ground in his cramped wooden and iron box. The cage hit the ground with enough force to break the other lock keeping Cain within it's confines. "Deckard Cain, get to the Rogue Camp!"

The last of the Horadrim crawled out of the pile of broken wood and twisted metal and scrabbled for a scroll of portal in his robes. With one last glance to his rescuers, the Sage activated the portal and stepped through, closing it behind him to keep anything unwanted from following him.

With their task done, the Sorceress broke for the line the blond warrior and the wild warrior was holding, alternating between her Frost Nova and Ice Blast spells. Once she dodged behind the Barbarian's back, she spun around and summoned her fire magic. A spout of fire jumped from her fingertips and spread out in the direction she pointed, setting the skeletons attacking the two warriors on fire and making their bones even more brittle.

On the other side of the town square, the Druid had finished off one shaman by getting close and ripping the demon's throat out with his teeth. Now, with both the Archer and the Necromancer aiming for the closer shaman to the well in the middle of town, the werewolf chased the third one into a burning shell of what had once been the inn. Ignoring the smell of smoldering fur rolling off him, the wild mage ripped his claws into the side of the demon trying to press farther back into the glowing embers of the building. The thing screeched, trying to hit the wolf-man with it's staff, but a second swipe of the shape shifter's claws ended the shaman's twisted life.

Picking his way out of the building that was still on fire, the Druid limped back into the town square in time to see the last of the skeletons being brought down by his two remaining spirit wolves.

The seven of them froze as the last undead crumbled, unsure if the quiet was really the end of that battle or not. When all they could hear was the hiss of burning wood and the cracks the stones gave when over heated, they slowly made their way to the center of Tristram's ruins.

All three mages slumped to the ground, putting the ancient well to their backs and looking out across the paved section of the town they had painted a slowly darkening red. None of the warriors were any better off; they knelt down near them as the group unanimously decided to take a break.

The Archer gripped the handle of her bow, trying not to look around the familiar town and remember who had once lived where. Shifting around in an attempt to find a place on his body that had not been burned, the Druid had to breathe through his mouth to keep from coughing at the stench that abused his sensitive nose.

The Paladin looked from one to the other, either the sitting mages or the kneeling fighters, and shook his head slowly. "We have Cain, we don't need to remain here any longer."

Catching sight of the wounds on the wild mage, the Sorceress took out a purple potion from her pack. "We have to have already dealt with most, if not all, of the monsters that remain. If we leave, there is no telling how many will be here whenever it is we get back." She handed the unusual looking potion to the badly charred Druid.

The Necromancer shook his head as well. "I agree. There simply is not enough room to hide any more creatures within the town itself, and we already know that the edges are easier than this."

With a shrug, the Amazon gave the holy knight an apologetic look. "I am in favor for staying."

Neither the Barbarian nor the Paladin had to talk to understand what the other wanted, the two men simply grinned at each other before the knight looked back to the Rogue. "Kyoko, do you wish to stay or leave?"

"I wish to stay." The Archer finally looked up from the hole she was trying to stare into the ground. "Nothing will get easier from here on out, I may as well deal with it now."

"Well said." Sparing a small smile to the younger woman, the elemental mage poked the Druid in an uninjured spot. "Drink. Or do you want me to pour it into your muzzle again?"

The wild mage grunted at her, but downed the odd potion anyways. The worst of his burns healed instantly, more noticeably on his feet, and the lesser blisters on his body eased until he wasn't cringing with each in drawn breath.

To the six surprised looks, the Sorceress simply shrugged in faux innocence. "Rejuvenation Potion."

* * *

><p>Seven exhausted figures, three spirit wolves, a tree spirit, a living vine, four skeletons, and a golem stumbled out of the portal the Sorceress summoned from the Stony Field. When the last of skeletons passed through the dimensional rift, the elemental mage closed the portal to prevent any monsters from using it to attack the Encampment, then stumbled over to the fire pit the others had gathered around.<p>

They were joined in short order by the old man they had been sent to rescue and the Priestess of the All Seeing Eye. Akara came armed with healing salves and potions, which were gratefully received as they watched intently while the Sage approached to address them. "As a token of my gratitude, I will identify items for you all at no cost."

What little humor had resided in the older man's eyes faded, and he took a deep breath before continuing. "Regrettably, I could do nothing to prevent the disaster which devastated Tristram. It would appear that our greatest fears have come to pass. Diablo, the Lord of Terror, has once again been set loose upon the world!

"As you know, some time ago Diablo was slain beneath Tristram. And when our hero emerged triumphant from the labyrinth beneath town, we held a grand celebration that lasted several days. Yet, as the weeks passed, our hero became increasingly aloof. He kept his distance from the rest of the townsfolk and seemed to lapse into a dark, brooding depression. I thought that perhaps his ordeal had been so disturbing that he simply could not put it out of his mind. The hero seemed more tormented every passing day. I remember he awoke many times – screaming in the night – always something about 'the East'.

"One day, he simply left. And shortly thereafter Tristram was attacked by legions of foul demons. Many were slain, and the demons left me to die in that cursed cage. I believe now that Tristram's hero was that Dark Wanderer who passed this way before the Monastery fell. I fear even worse, my friends... I fear that Diablo has taken possession of the hero who sought to slay him. If true, Diablo will become more powerful than ever before. You must stop him or all will be lost."


	4. Act I, Quest IV

**Disclaimer** : Obviously not mine, but the ten year love/hate affair with the game is.

**Rating** : The game is rated MA, so the fic will have to follow with a M for violence and graphic gore.

**Author's Note** : Almost done with the next chapter as well, so that one might be up soon.

* * *

><p><strong>Act I – The Sightless Eye<strong>

**Quest IV – The Forgotten Tower**

**THE **evening after the seven of them rescued Deckard Cain, and the Sage told them what had befallen the town of Tristram mere weeks after the seeming triumph of it's hero, was spent quietly up until the full onset of nightfall.

What had started out as a series of favors for the displaced Rogues had the signs of turning into the very event that each of their different cultures had warned against and prepared their warriors or mages diligently for. Now faced with the very purpose they had been trained and raised for centuries to combat, each of them had their own concerns and doubts to deal with.

Sitting around the dying fire pit near midnight, which was hissing and spitting in the tail end of that evening's lingering rainstorm, they tended to the minor chores each of them had for either their equipment or abilities while they thought about the Last of the Horadrim's words.

Pausing in the act of sharpening the tips of her javelins, the Amazon looked around at the individuals she now found herself with. She didn't know them all that well, but the weight of heavy thought hung over the group in a noticeable pall. "The old man's words may not herald the death knell of our way of life. This may just be another upsurge of Evil that happens from time to time."

"What stone do you live underneath?" Eying her expression moodily, the Necromancer shut the moldy tome he had taken from the Stony Field and sat it on his bended knee. "Any mention of even one of the Prime Evils is cause enough to become concerned. The Great Cycle of Being, and the balance between the living and the dead, has already been perverted enough, for the dead now walk the lands as mockeries of what they once were in life. I shudder to think about what the addition of the three Prime Evils would do to this world."

"We don't even know if it really is the return of Diablo." She argued; jabbing the tip of the javelin she had been holding into the ground next to her boots. "After all, Deckard said that hero defeated him."

"Cain _said_ that the hero of Tristram held his silence about what happened in the catacombs beneath the church, but that he seemed victorious when he finally emerged, so drawing any conclusions about what really happened needs to wait until we find this Dark Wanderer for ourselves." The Sorceress placed her finger in the tome of history she was reading to the Druid and looked up at the quarreling two sitting across from each other. "The Rogues say that he has already passed through their Monastery to the East, so that means if we want any answers about what is going on, we need to follow quickly."

The Paladin set his sword and his whetstone down, looking over at his fellows. "What do you all make of this, then? This sighting of the Dark Wanderer, the fall of Tristram, and the exile of the Rogues. What do you see setting all this misfortune in motion?"

"My Order has already declared that the time of Emergence is at hand, when the Evil in Hell rises up and challenges Heaven's might in contest of the mortal realm." Slipping a strip of cloth between the pages to hold their place, the brunette spell caster frowned over to the holy knight as she set the book in her lap. "That is the reason why I am here and not back in my home jungle with my murdered mentor. A number of us Sorceresses have been sent out to deal with the minions of evil, wherever or whatever they may be."

The lycan next to her blinked at her, and then cast a quick glance over to the Barbarian, who was pretending to ignore the conversation in favor of honing his axes. "The Druids of Scosglen, my own mentors and teachers, are not sure yet if it is time of Uileloscadh Mór, the final battle between the men of the world and the demons of the Burning Hells. I, and a number of my brothers, were sent out to gather what knowledge we might find to verify this to the elders." Kicking out his legs, the amber haired wild mage settled himself on the ground to see the others better, stirring up his pack of spirit wolves to mill closer to the fire pit. "What of your order, Knight?"

Frowning thoughtfully, the dark skinned warrior stared into the dying fire. "I do not know. Some of my fellow knights and I left the Church of Zakarum when they decreed a bloody Inquisition during the Times of Trouble. Wholesale slaughter of those that did not wish to convert to the Church was... unpalatable to us. We have cut ourselves off from any information the main branch of the Church sends out to it's other knights and priests. What they make of this, I may never know."

"What I find interesting, is that each of our cultures have a different name for the same event." Retrieving the javelin from the ground, the Amazon bent back to her task. "My own people call it the Dark Exile, but I am not convinced it is happening at this very moment. You may be right, spell slinger. We should find this Wanderer before we pin a name to this upsurge of Evil in our world."

Raising a dark eyebrow at the new handle from the blond warrior, the Sorceress shrugged and opened the tome in her lap once more.

* * *

><p>At dawn's break the next day, the Barbarian and the Paladin visited Charsi, who was very happy to see them. As the Rogue's blacksmith repaired their armor, she posed a bargain to them. "When I fled the Monastery, I left behind the Horadric Malus, my enchanted smithing hammer. If you can retrieve it for me, I'll use its magic to strengthen your equipment."<p>

The holy knight nodded as he took back his shield that the Barbarian woman held out to him. "We are bound to the Monastery at any road, I can at least promise you to look for it."

Charsi smiled her thanks as she looked over the wild warrior's studded leather armor. "The Monastery can confuse even those who know it well. Stay alert in there."

The men bid the blacksmith goodbye and met up with the others near the way point of the Encampment, deciding where it was they wished to go. The Amazon stood near one of the Rogues' wagons, listening to the Necromancer and the Sorceress discuss the tome the pale mage had found, as the Druid looked over his animal and plant summons one last time and the Rogue Archer securely tied her quiver to her belt.

The two warriors approached the group in time to hear the female mage argue against some course of action. "... be that as it may, this tower is rumored to be located in the Black Marsh, a ways away from the Dark Woods, and that is as far as I've gone. Supposedly, there is another way point in the Marshes, and if we find it you are welcome to use it, but we need to clear out the Woods of the Evil that dwells there before we continue on. Secure our rear, or something like that."

The Priest of Rathma scowled at her. "I am not afraid of forging on ahead. You clear out the monsters that lurk in the forest, but I will find this dungeon of horrors and ensure the dead still sleep."

"Very well," The brunette spell caster shook her head at his stubbornness, "but be warned, the demons that inhabit the lands past the Passage are stronger than the ones that roam out here. Just be careful." She caught sight of the warriors and plastered on a pained smile. "Are you all ready?"

When all of them responded positively, the Sorceress knelt down in the middle of the stone platform. The six other adventurers stepped onto the stone, while the summoned creatures ringed around them, and the spell caster touched the circle that corresponded with the Dark Woods' way point.

(ooo000ooo)

Their arrival in the Dark Woods was met by an ambush of Vile Hunters, Lancers, and a pack of shaman-less Carver demons. Since the less combat capable had taken position within the stone platform and the warriors of the group had stayed on the outer ring of the way point, they were spared the crush of the onslaught, but still had to fight for any room at all to work whatever offense they were able to.

Although there was not a shaman aiding the small blue skinned demons to rise again, the fact the cowardly monsters ran when something was killed was a frustrating facet of the fight. The nimble demons would dodge out of the way after a few moments, one of the corrupted Rogues could close in within striking distance and score a few hits before being brought down, then whatever small demons that had returned to the fight would start running all over again.

When the skirmish was over, each of the seven still standing on the field sported injuries of various concerns. The surroundings looked clear, and they took that moment to look over what damage had been done.

"They must have been following us yesterday, and set this up just in case we returned the same way we left." Stated the Paladin with a wince, as the Sorceress was using a light healing potion to close up the gashes from one of the Vile Lancer's spears that struck his sword arm several times.

The Druid re-summoned his Poison Vine, as his last one had fallen under the axes of some of the Carver demons. "That may be, but that they would work together to stage such a thing is worrying." The half-wolf shook his furry head and looked over his spirit wolves that survived the fight. "And I thought the Leathdhiabhala within these lands were cause for concern."

"Leaf-what?" Finishing up with what she could to for the holy knight's injuries, the brunette spell caster handed off the rest of the potion and stood up, wiping the blood off on her leather armor. "What does that mean?"

Picking back up his double handed large ax, the lycan smirked at her, showing off his fangs. "Leathdhiabhala, the demonic corrupted wild children of nature. Like the Wendigo Brutes we fought last eve. Normally, Wendigos are peaceful creatures that shy away from human contact, but those three seemed... tortured to the point of madness."

"Akara said his name, the one we heard wail first, was Treehead Woodfist, and that he tended and guarded the Tree of Inifuss..."

The Sorceress trailed off as the Druid nodded sadly. "He was on the brink of a mindless rage, I highly doubt anything would have saved the creature from the demonic taint that he held within."

"So, they are torturing the inhabitants of the forests?" Kyoko shivered at the thought. She had seen the Wendigos when they were still peaceful creatures, and hated the idea of attacking and killing the gentle giants. "This corruption goes farther than just the Monastery..."

"Unfortunately." The Paladin discarded the small rounded bottle the potion had been held in, and picked his sword up again. "That means there is more work for us to be done here. Shall we spread out, or stick close?"

"Are we to clear out the rest of the Underground Passage as well?" Queried the Druid as he sniffed the fresh wind.

The Amazon handed off the number of arrows she had plucked out of the corpses to the Archer and shrugged. "I am ready for anything, and from the looks of it, anything seems to be in store for us."

"Well stated, lassie." Clapping the blond warrior on the back, the Barbarian looked over the warriors he traveled with. "I say split, we cover more ground that way."

"Three groups," suggested the female mage, "a ranged and a close combat individual to work in pairs. One would have an extra fighter, but I see no problem with that. We should meet back here at noon to see if we need to stay out longer, or if we should press on."

With little more than idle chatter lacing the rest of the conversation, the group split up. The Druid and the Barbarian headed north to the Underground Passage, arguing that the wolves counted as ranged fighters with the Paladin. The holy knight, the Rogue Archer, and the Sorceress headed east, towards where the Tree of Inifuss lay. Taking the west was the Amazon and the Necromancer. The two groups staying above ground agreed to circle the boundary wall to their respective lefts, to keep from simply following in the other's steps.

(ooo000ooo)

At noon, the five that remained above ground met back up at the way point as proposed.

They had encountered little beyond small pockets of demons, corrupted Rogues, and the occasional demoniacally twisted woodland creature. The Necromancer in particular complaining bitterly under his breath about the spike fiends that lurked low to the ground and fired off quills at what passed them as he removed several of said quills from his leather wrapped shins as they waited.

The hunting howls of the Druid's pack of wolves alerted them to the arrival of the wild warrior and mage, the two armed with bows, as the Sorceress had replaced the short bow she gave to the Archer with a un-enchanted hunter's bow, aimed for the east of the clearing and shot two of the four Carver demons down that were being chased by five spirit wolves.

As the two women lowered their bows the missing men entered the clearing, the Barbarian grinning widely. "You left many foes for us, in yon fissure beneath the earth."

"Well, I am glad something was worth the trip down there." The Sorceress raised a dark eyebrow at the new ghostly wolf, admiring the pale splash of brown over the wolf's muzzle as it sniffed her boots. "Are we finished for the day, or shall we continue to the Marshes? We found nothing beyond our abilities yet."

"I do have that Tower to locate yet." The pale mage spoke up, looking over to the newly returned fighters. "Some dungeon underneath the Marshes that belonged to some Countess that was said to be rich."

The Druid merely snorted at that. "I have no use for shiny trinkets."

"You may not, I do." The Amazon inspected the priest of the dead with marked enthusiasm. "Lead on, male. Let's see this tower of yours."

The Sorceress sighed, rubbing at her temples. "How many of us do you want to take with you? We can do this in two groups, and leave one out to clear the Black Marsh as you honor your commitments."

"If you do not wish to venture with us, just us two will do. My skeletons will make up the lack of numbers." Gesturing to the undead milling around him with the preserved head he had found, the Necromancer smirked at her. "We will be fine, woman."

She gave him a tight nod, gesturing to the Paladin to lead them all to the break in the stone barrier that led to the Black Marsh. "Have your way, then."

(ooo000ooo)

The seven of them spotted the Tower without too much trouble, without the canopy of leafy trees in the way their field of view went farther than the next clump of trunks. Getting to it was another problem entirely.

The undead, summoned or not, marched through the Marshes without the difficulty the seven of them faced, noticeably the issue of the soft, muddy ground underfoot that sucked in a boot when any significant weight was pressed down and was reluctant to let go, even against the Barbarian's muscles. Another added difficulty was the addition of Vile Archers to the ranks of foes they faced, corrupted Rogues that held enough memory of their previous life to retain their skills with the bows they still held, and the flying Blood Hawks and their stationary nests.

Slogging the way through the wet terrain drained their stamina, only the summoned creatures had little trouble getting around, and the warriors had to rely more on the ranged members of the group as too much movement would turn the ground into a soupy, slippery mess.

Once they all reached the crumbling Tower the ones not intent on investigating the ruins decided to take a break and help the two would be explorers to find the entrance to whatever part of the old castle was still accessible. It started raining again, and the seven of them took shelter within the portion of the building that was still standing, that they found the entrance to the Tower's Cellar.

All of them traipsed down into the Cellar, curiosity driving them to at least see what the Forgotten Tower held under it's foundation.

The Druid wrinkled his muzzle at the stench that wafted up from the dungeons. "Mmm, I can smell why this Tower is abandoned."

"What is that smell?" The Amazon asked between sneezes, holding one gloved hand to her nose.

With a violent snort to clear his own, the Barbarian shook his tattooed head and answered her at the same time as the Necromancer.

"The stench of poison."

"This place reeks of death."

The two men exchanged glances, then turned their attention back to the hole in the walls that led farther underground.

Smirking slightly, the Sorceress shook her head at them. "This place holds many secrets. Be careful, the both of you. We will meet you both back in the Rogues' Encampment when you have found what you will here... I hope."

Sketching her a shallow bow, the pale mage and his summons led the blond warrior into the depths of the Tower. When they were out of sight, not that it took at all that long, the other five returned to the surface to clear the Evil out of the Black Marsh.

* * *

><p>The first two levels posed no problem to the two of them, the Necromancer's undead were useful in tracking down their fellow walking dead even in the dim gloom barely lit by a few guttering torches brought in by some of the small Devilkin demons, tan skinned versions of the Carvers and Fallen Ones they had dealt with before.<p>

The first time a ghost drifted through a wall and attacked the pale mage, bypassing the summoned dead the mage held under control, the blond warrior jumped between the two and attacked it with a wild yell. She was nearly frantic to see that her javelins did less damage against the unearthly dead spirits, but the creature finally did collapse into a pile of dust and bone fragments after a lucky hit struck completely through the spirit. "What in Athulua's own name was _that_?"

The priest of the dead was shaken himself, but strove to hide that from the warrior. "It looks like a ghost, a spirit of some poor man or woman that has regrets that bound them to the mortal realms." He walked a bit closer to the dusty remains, kicking some of the bone fragments over. "I would assume there will be more the farther we go."

She blew out a sigh, still unnerved by the suddenness of the encounter. "Terrific. This means you are beholden to clear out the rest of these dungeons, right? If these ghosts are still here, it is possible the Countess from your story book is still holding on as well."

"I am, and it is likely she is."

The blond warrior nodded, more to herself than to the mage. "Let's see what Evil awaits us."

(ooo000ooo)

The next level down saw the addition of Dark Archers to the ranks of monsters awaiting them, packs of four or five corrupted Rogues that would run from the melee fighters or any shots taken in their direction. The pong of rotting flesh was stronger that far down, with the added wafts of old and fresh blood from the next level. At that point, the Necromancer and Amazon agreed that they were a little jealous of the skeletons' lack of noses.

The fifth level under the Marshes, where the scents of bodily fluids and decomposing corpses were the strongest, held the strongest of the demons they faced so far. A cold enchanted Devilkin, a lightning enchanted Blood Clan, and another pack of Dark Archers.

The Necromancer's golem and the Amazon racked up the most kills, the skeletons distracted the enchanted monsters until it was less likely that if any of them would be mobbed if they tried to go after the stronger demons. The drawback to that plan was that every time the Blood Clan champion was hit, he radiated small bolts of lightning that zipped around the great room without aim, but did hit the two companions frequently and drained small bits of their health away.

Muscles still twitching, the Necromancer re-summoned his walking dead as the Amazon checked the closest two doorways for any more foes. He was surprised to note that the woman was ignoring the piles of gold and glittering things on the flagstone floor, too intent on ensuring that all the foes that dwell in the bottom level of the dungeons had been dealt with.

She killed a small number of Devilkins, flushing them out of the corners of the two rooms she checked, as the pale mage sent his skeleton warriors in as bait into the next room father down the main hall. When she rejoined him, he had already lost two, and he quickly deduced that whatever was radiating the malevolent aura was still lying in wait for them.

The Countess, or what was left of her, was waiting at the very back room, what the Necromancer assumed had been her store room for her ill gotten wealth in life. The undead woman also had a number of Vile Huntresses with her, and the Amazon realized quickly that the fire that caused her death still burned around her.

The supposedly long dead noblewoman threw some of that cursed fire at the only two entrances to the chamber, setting the very stones that made up the doorway aflame, and forcing the priest of the dead to rush through to limit how much of himself got burned. His summons were not as lucky, as the final two skeletons crumbled in the heat, and even his clay golem staggered in the heat.

With an unearthly screech of rage the corrupted women threw themselves at the intruders, and with a muttered incantation the Necromancer threw out one gloved hand and cast some spell that caused them to draw up from their charge in confusion. The Amazon didn't have the time to question what had happened, for she was locked in a deadly duel with the very Countess they had come to find, but she blessed the male she was with for whatever magical trickery he had used to buy her time.

The golem had not been idle while it's summoner was occupied with his curse, it charged the Rogues silently and started mauling them to death as the dark spell caster armed himself with his throwing knives and started flinging them at the others.

As the corrupted Vile Huntresses fell, the Necromancer also resummoned his skeletons from their corpses, sending them to aid the blond warrior as they arose. By the time the Amazon had finally managed to get past the undead noblewoman's guard and thrust her javelin's tip into her non-beating heart, there was only one Rogue left, and she was dispatched easily enough with a dagger thrown into her eye.

The corpse of the Countess slid off the blond warrior's weapon with a wet sucking sound and exploded in a shower of boiling hot gore, and the moment her dead and burnt flesh hit the ground a thick smoke arose from her form and covered the flagstones, traveling to a chest neither had noticed when they entered the chamber. As the acrid stench of burning flesh filled the room, the chest was flung open and the contents spilled out on the floor in a ringing clang of small bits of metal hitting on stone.

"Ahh, the Tower's trove for the taking!" The Amazon kicked at the small pieces of burnt flesh out of her way as she tried to wipe off the worse of the hot, sticky blood from her armor with one hand.

Shaking his head, the Necromancer held his silence about her mercenary like attitude. She had proven to be an asset, and had not been distracted before their goal had been reached, so he decided she deserved the benefit of doubt. "Treasure hunting, heh. Treasure finding, yes!"

She flashed him a grin as she sorted out what had spilled to the floor, but her smirk faltered a bit as she found two stones with something etched in black on one side. "What are these? I have never seen the like before."

"Runes." He took one from her and peered at the symbol. "This one is Ith. I believe the one you hold is Ral. They act like gemstones, when inserted into the notches available in some weapons and armor, and there are some combinations called Rune Words that, when successfully added, impart impressive power to the item enhanced."

Humming in comprehension, the woman sorted through the rest of the pile, finding another rune the Necromancer identified for her as Eld. "Can anything be done with these three?"

"No, but we may find more, and I am not sure I know of all the combinations possible. You should ask the Sorceress and the Druid what they know of runes when we return." Glancing over the piles of items and gold the Amazon had made, the mage's pale eyebrow rose as he considered a heavy looking dagger in what seemed to be his pile and reached out to pick it up. "What is that?"

"I have not any idea, but Deckard Cain said he would identify any items we came across, so have him look at it." She got to her feet, adjusting the straps of her pack to sit more square on her back with the added weight. "But we have another two rooms to clear out before we can leave, so may I suggest we see to it? It's almost dinnertime, by the empty feeling of my stomach."

* * *

><p>It was closer to mid-night when the two of them returned, using a scroll of portal from the Black Marsh that the Sorceress had given the Necromancer eariler that morning. The only two to remain awake to see their return was the Sorceress and the Druid, the female mage with patching some small rips in her leather armor and the wild mage with reading the tome of history she had been reading with him yesterday.<p>

"We saved you something to eat, not an easy feat with how much the Barbarians in this encampment eat." Rising, the spell caster gestured for them to seat themselves as she fetched it, returning after they had taken off their packs and had selected their spots. She handed them both a covered dish that contained some warm, if no longer hot, stew and a hunk of bread.

The Druid mildly glared at her when she returned. "I resent the comparison to my brother in spirit. I, at least, have some manners."

"Compared to what, your wolves?" She shot back at him as she sat down again, grinning at his good humored chuckle. Turning her attention back to the two recently returned individuals, she looked them up and down, noting the blood splatter, dust, and cobwebs that clung thickly to the both of them. "So what did you find in that rotting dungeon?"

"All manner of undead, some demons, and a burning bitch of a noblewoman," the Necromancer blinked slowly, swallowing another mouthful of food before adding, "and a lot of dust."

The blond woman across the fire pit from him nearly snorted into her bowl as the dry statement caught her off guard. Coughing a few times, she blinked hard to clear her sight, and when she could see again she grinned over at the two spell casters and mildly curious lycan. "And some really shiny trinkets. Wanna see?"

The Sorceress nodded warily, unsure what to make of their behavior towards one another. At the very least, she decided, they were no longer sniping at each other.

Grabbing her nearly overfull pack, the Amazon reached for the length of wood nearly sticking out of her neatly organized loot. She tossed it over to her fellow female, smirking at the spell caster gasped. "I noticed there are better staffs than the short one you use. I thought you might like this to replace your mentor's, so you don't break it by mistake."

Without word, the Sorceress dove for her own pack, drawing out a crimson striped scroll from it's depths. She broke open the scroll's seal over the length of wood, and a flash of light spilled from the once blank parchment as words filled up the entirety of the space there that she read it out loud. "Serpent's Long Staff of the Bat. Magical augment and minor mana siphoning." She let out an awed breath and ran her fingers down the carved side of the Sorceresses' fighting staff. "Where in Sanctuary did you find this?"

"It was farther than six feet down, I can tell you that." The Amazon then proceeded to ignore any more inquires for the rest of the night, until she took herself off to sleep.

With a sigh, the Necromancer learned back against the log he had used as a seat and sent a tired smirk over to the frazzled spell caster. "A surprising woman, that one. Tell me, Sorceress, how many of those scrolls do you have left?"

"Of identify? I have three left, why?"


	5. Act I, Quest V

**Disclaimer** : Obviously not mine, but the ten year love/hate affair with the game is.

**Rating** : The game is rated MA, so the fic will have to follow with a M for violence and graphic gore. You may wish to take that into consideration with this chapter, with a heavy emphasis on the gore.

**Author's Note** : Um, it should have been a really short chapter, but since I always stopped, if I had to, at the Inner Cloister's way point when playing the game, that's where this chapter ends. The thing about Charsi's quest is, I hate it. It's useless, if you think about it. She imbues a item for you, be it a weapon or a piece of armor, into a yellow rare item but you always find a better one later on, like in Lut Gholein or when you slay Andariel. Or even if you hold onto that option until later, you don't find anything good, hopefully low quality, cracked, or damaged, to imbue until Act IV or V, then it's usually just good for selling for petty cash compared to what you have equipped then. Lastly, I always thought it was a little cruel to make your Rogue Hireling walk through the Jail levels with you. So, Kyoko was spared having to see it.

* * *

><p><strong>Act I – The Sightless Eye<strong>

**Quest V – Tools of the Trade**

**CLAPPING** the returned Amazon on the back at dawn's break the next morning, the Barbarian sat down next to her with a broad grin. "We've cleared out the rest of the marshes, so now the little lassies say we only have the Tamoe Highlands left to traverse afore we reach the Monastery itself, if you and the tiny pale man are done wandering off into dank dungeons to chase after children story monsters."

She mocked scowled at him, punching his shoulder as he served himself some of the fruit laced oatmeal the Rogues had made to break their fast with. "What else have the Rogues requested of us?" She purposely ignored the thin reference to what she and the Necromancer had done yesterday as she took another bite of her food.

"Charsi asked that we retrieve her Horadric Malus from her old workshop while making our way through the Monastery after the Dark Wanderer." He nodded his tattooed head over to where the Sorceress, the Paladin, the Rogue Archer Kyoko, and the Rogue Commander Kashya were having a discussion by the low wall that separated Akara's temporary home from the rest of the camp. "Tis what they do, figuring out our path. As it seems that the Monastery was built like a maze, to confuse and delay those that would wish the sisters ill."

"Let me guess, the feature that served them so well in the past against foes now hinders our way forward to assist them in reclaiming their home?" Shaking her head, the blond warrior spooned up her last bit of apple chunks. "Ironic."

"Seem so." A bleary eyed Druid strolled over to the two, plopping himself down next to his brother in spirit. "I take it we leave when the other three are done?" His pack of wolves laid down next to him, while the tree spirit floated around and the living vine stirred up the ground nearby.

"That we are."

(ooo000ooo)

By mid morning the seven of them had returned to the Black Marsh, using the portal the Sorceress had set up near the path to the Tamoe Highlands last evening. She had to go last, as the portal was spelled so as the one who summoned it traversed through back to the original location, it would close.

Once all of them were through and ready, the Paladin and Barbarian led the way forward to the pass in the barrier wall that lead to the Highlands, followed by the Druid and the Amazon with the Sorceress, Necromancer, and Archer bringing up the rear.

They were met by three packs of Carvers and three Shamans within the pass, but those were easily dispatched compared to the foes they had faced before.

The only event of note from the skirmish was that when the small demons cried out Rakanishu's name to embolden each other, the Barbarian laughed at them cruelly and shouted back. "I ripped off his bloody head! _Now_ who will save you!"

After that battle was done and once through to the Highlands proper, they split into two groups to cover more ground. The holy knight, the wild mage, the spell caster, and Kyoko going one way, and the wild warrior, the blond warrior, and the priest of the dead going another. They had agreed to meet back up at the Monastery's entrance after they had cleared the lands of the monsters that could be found within the Highlands.

With his group covering ground rapidly, the Necromancer was alarmed to note that there were more walking dead present so close to the Rogue's old home, and several that seemed to retain what magics they had in life. That likely meant that there would be even more within the man made labyrinth, possibly because one of the demons there was calling them from their proper rest. For now, though, the skeleton mages they met were weak. One or two blows from the warriors he was traveling with as well as the Jagged Dirk he acquired from the bowels of the Forgotten Tower was enough to cause them to crumble into bone fragments, but he gained an idea from watching the dead mages march.

The Paladin was disgusted to see the same thing, and as his group got closer to the stone fortress to the north he became grimmer. He stopped responding or reacting to any of the banter being tossed around by the other three he was traveling with. The Druid shrugged it off, the Archer ignored any deviation in his personality, but the Sorceress watched him worriedly.

Stopping briefly to clear out a Pit of a cave, the Barbarian's group met up as agreed with the Paladin's before the tall wooden doors that lead into the Monastery Gate, and the Outer Cloister behind it. The pale mage was frowning thoughtfully at the remains of some Returned Mages while the others reassessed their equipment, working through how the demons that summoned the dead ones had kept hold of the magics they had possessed while alive.

With most of the others occupied, and his own weapons set, he reached out with his magic and tried to raise a Skeleton Mage. One of the Returned Mages rose again, bones magically healing from the fractures and cracks that had caused it to fall in the first place, but the calcium bleached to white under his magic. He inspected this new skeleton, suspicious because it did not grab for a weapon immediately like his other undead had done when raised. Catching sight of the lightning that flickered and collected around the new bone mage's hands, he smirked at his work and turned back just as the holy knight and the blond warrior were pushing the great doors apart.

A pack of Dark Stalkers, the elite Rogue warriors corrupted by whatever demons were in residence in the Rogues' old home, rushed at them while two of their fighters were distracted by the main gates. The Archer and Necromancer brought down a few each, and the Sorceress' spells felled another few, but three of them evaded the missiles and spells only to come to grasp with the Barbarian and the Druid.

The wild warrior beheaded one with a swing of his ax, the wild mage ripped the throat out of another with his claws, and the summoned wolves leapt over everyone in their way and bore down on the last until they had torn her apart.

"Well," the female mage kicked the head of the Barbarian's kill away from her and out of the way, "that was quite the welcoming committee."

Kyoko lowered her bow, looking mournfully at her fallen sisters, slain on the ground. "They were to be the best of us... but they are the ones who fell first. It was the Dark Stalkers themselves that drove us out of the Monastery. They started going mad, killing a few of their own at first in violent fits of anger, and turning on the younger sisters before long." The Rogue shook her head, and then checked the number of arrows she had left simply for something to do. "Akara said there might not be any way to save them, as their pact with Evil has taken hold of their souls, so I do not feel bad about any revenge I might gain by killing them all."

Tilting his wolfish head curiously, the Druid stared after the Rogue for a moment. "That... is depressing." He blinked at the dead on the ground, then looked back at the other five. "We were killing the same Rogues we are helping... dose this confuse any of you?"

"No. The corrupted deserve to be slain." Drawing his saber again, the holy knight passed the wild mage, following after the Archer. "There is nothing in Sanctuary that can save a damned soul, once a demon has hold of it."

The Sorceress sighed, shifting her long staff to her other hand and patting the lycan on the shoulder. "Akara said killing the demoness that took over the Catacombs might save them, but not to risk ourselves in the attempt to save who we can. They have chosen their fate, so spare no pity for the corrupted Rogues."

(ooo000ooo)

They fought a number of twisted creatures getting to the Barracks proper, Black Rogues, Yeti, and the tan skinned Devilkins and their shamans, but once inside the living quarters of the Rogue Sisterhood, the cramped quarters limited the range of the Archer and the Necromancer's throwing knives.

Luckily, the Amazon's and Kyoko's Inner Sight skills painted every monsters' skin with a soft glow, illuminating the dark corners the tan demons ran to when something was slain before them, and the Bone Archers that stood farther back in the gloomy interior and shot at the seven of them. They used the narrow halls and rooms to their own advantage, ducking into a previously cleared space to get to another door to attack ranged foes from closer quarters.

Since there was little room to fight they had to split up some, the warriors taking a side or middle and the mages stationing themselves in doorways to keep the demons and undead from ambushing them the same way.

They also met some more of the goat-men, black furred creatures from the Death Clan who wielded double handed axes and blended into the shadows well farther inside the maze like interior.

By noon, or what felt like noon to them in the dim, clammy halls they were now in, the seven of them had gotten most of the way through the Barracks, and had located the stairs down to the first level of the Jail, but not Charsi's enchanted smithing hammer or her old forge. They took a break for a short while in one of the sleeping rooms, ignoring the blood splattered on the walls in gruesome patterns and the occasional severed limb on the floor.

Kyoko looked rather pale in what torchlight there was, gripping the shaft of her bow in a white knuckled death grip as she sat on what had once been the cot that belonged to a long dead friend of hers before the Rogues had been forced from the Monastery. The state of the Barracks had come to be an unpleasant surprise to her, the blood staining the floors and splashed up on the barrels and crates that they had once used to store foodstuffs and goods while caravans were inspected painted a violent picture of what had happened after the bulk of the Rouges had fled their ancestral home.

Across from her, the Druid was rather miserably trying to keep from sneezing, the scent of decomposing flesh and old blood mixed with the heavy, musky smell of demons trapped in cold and musty stone halls something he did not wish to scent with a cleared snout. Even the torches, which were strips of hemp cloth soaked in animal fat on stout wooden shafts, stung his sensitive nose. There were also a few other things in the stench he was trying to ignore, not that it was working all too well, and he supposed the farther down they went trying to ignore it would be a moot point.

The three warriors were less bothered by the stench wafting in the Monastery, either used to the stomach turning scents, masters of ignoring it, or unable to smell it as keenly as the wild mage could.

Unbothered by the smell as well, the Necromancer poured over a few tomes with the Sorceress, who was looking a bit green herself by the light of one of the torches in the room.

Regardless if they were outwardly bothered or not, they collectively decided not to try and eat while they rested.

When the Rogue Archer was no longer breathing like she was going to faint, the holy knight got to his booted feet and drew his sword again. "Where have we not gone by now? If I remember right, the far north leads to the Jail, and we have already cleared out everything to the east. What was left in the west side of this place?"

As the others rose up as well, the female mage frowned thoughtfully as she tucked the tome in her hand into her pack. "I believe there was one last door on the west side, one that we didn't go through as you and the Amazon had spotted the stairwell down and was calling for Kyoko's confirmation."

(ooo000ooo)

The last closed door on the west side of the Barracks led to Charsi's old smithy. Unfortunately, it wasn't as abandoned as the Rogues' Blacksmith had left it. The minotaur like creature that had taken up the barbarian woman's place roared at the Paladin, charging the knight with a massive hammer in one meaty fist.

"I WILL MAKE WEAPONS FROM YOUR BONES!"

The dark skinned warrior swore, dodging out of the way of the first crushing blow and trying to move away from the doorway so the other fighters could get through and distract the rampaging monster intent on crushing him with it's massive one handed blows with a hammer. Darting through with the Druid's wolves at her heels, the Amazon threw her last few javelins at the back of the beast's horned head.

It roared again, twisting around to see what had attacked it. The blond warrior spun herself, getting out of the way for the Druid and Barbarian to come through now that it was focused on chasing her. As the rest of the companions spilled into the forge, they spread out to keep the monster disorientated by attacking in turn. The Smith mostly focused on killing the summoned minions that closed in on him, but the Skeleton mage, the two spell casters, and the Rogue Archer were able to slowly chip away at it as the warriors took turns hacking.

Bellowing, with blood pouring out of it's snout, the monster crashed to the ground as it's guts spilled out of it's lacerated body, still trying desperately to kill the humans ripping it slowly apart.

Breathing hard, the blond warrior stomped over to the remains of her javelins and scowled at the broken hafts of wood, dropping the broken table leg she had used in lieu of her preferred weapon. "Perfect. I need to return to the Rogues, to replace my weaponry. I vote we call it a day, and return in the morning."

"Very well. Once we find this Horadric Malus of Charsi's." The Paladin sheathed his saber and looked around the forge.

The Sorceress was the one to check the tool rack next to the anvil and found the hammer while the rest searched the room. "I hope the sisters appreciate this thing. Back to the Encampment then?"

* * *

><p>Charsi was thrilled to have the Horadric Malus back in her possession, and got to work repairing the armor and weapons the seven of them had immediately. She promised to imbue whatever item they wanted, when they wanted to, before they left her corner of the camp.<p>

As they gathered around the fire pit once again in the early afternoon to see to their minor chores and to finally eat for the second time that day, Deckard Cain walked over to them. "Good evening, my friends. The magical effects imbued by the Malus are impossible to predict, but are always to the good."

"Well met Cain. Come to join us for an early supper?" Asked the tired Druid, thankful that he couldn't smell the stench of the Monastery any more even if woodsmoke did sting a bit.

"Thank you, my wild friend, but no. I have some information to impart to you all." The old man smiled softly as his words gained him the unwavering attention of all the heroes before him. "It is certain that we face the demon queen, Andariel, who has corrupted the Rogue Sisterhood and defiled their ancestral Monastery. This does not bode well for us, my friends. Ancient Horadric texts record that Andariel and the other Lesser Evils once overthrew the three Prime Evils – Diablo, Mephisto and Baal – banishing them from Hell to our world. Here, they caused mankind untold anguish and suffering before they were finally bound within the Soulstones. Andariel's presence here could mean that the forces of Hell are once again aligned behind Diablo and his Brothers. If this is true, then I fear for us all. You must kill her before the Monastery becomes a permanent outpost of Hell and the way east lost forever." He hobbled forward, taking a seat next to the Paladin on one of the logs situated around the fire pit. "Diablo is heading east for some foul purpose. And the only passage east is through the Monastery Gate. Obviously, Diablo summoned Andariel to block any pursuit. For her part, Andariel hopes to win Diablo's favor... the lesser demons are always vying for positions of power within the unholy hierarchy!"

The Sorceress frowned, looking down at her blood stained heavy boots as she thought. "Andariel... the Maiden of Anguish?" She looked up at the Horadrim Sage in horror. "One of the Lesser Evils? _She_ is the one that stands in our way? I thought she had corrupted the Rogues and left them to guard the gate east."

He shook his balding head at her. "The last of the survivors of the Rogues that had escaped from their fallen Monastery claimed to have seen her enter the defiled Cathedral, where those that had lived there over the centuries were entombed. She has most likely gone to raise the dead there as more soldiers to pit against you and the others. Her defeat would allow you to continue the pursuit. Ancient lore has it that while Andariel was spawned in the Burning Hells, she is not fond of fire."

"That is not the only lore on the Demon Queen." The female mage rubbed her hands together, an outward sign of her nervousness. "Poison is a favored weapon of hers. A slow death from the inside out."

"She is not the only one who favors poison here, Sorceress. Calm thyself." Kicking out his legs, the Necromancer tilted his head to see where Akara was. "The High Priestess has potions of antidote, which protects the imbiber for a small period of time from any venom. We will need to stock up on them before we face her in whatever lair she has constructed for herself."

Steeling her nerves, the elemental spell caster calmed as her mind went back to a briefly mentioned spell in her training, and she tried to remember everything mentioned about it by her mentor. "There is a fire spell I know of, one that sets the surrounding ablaze when cast."

"There, my lady. No reason to panic." Patting her on the hand, and ignoring the fact she slapped his hand away, the Paladin looked over to the others who had remained silent while the exchange had gone on. "Can the rest of you think of anything to add?"

The Amazon raised a hand mockingly, sparing a brief glance to ensure the Sorceress would not become further upset. "I know how to fire exploding arrows, I just need a bow."

"I have a few elemental spells, I just can't cast them in my werewolf form." the Druid stroked a hand under his jaw. "Two of them are fire based."

"I do not panic." The spell caster spat, greatly annoyed. "But I also to do not believe you understand what it is we face. A demon of Andariel's caliber is nothing like the minor, twisted demons we have already seen and defeated."

"We will not face her this day, I think." Getting up to her feet with the aid of the new spear she had gotten from the blacksmith, the Amazon checked the pot of stew bubbling over the fire. "You can terrify us with legends about this spider tonight, for I believe we will not see her until tomorrow. But for now, our meal is done."

After they had eaten and started rearming themselves to return to the Monastery, the Druid pulled the Paladin aside. "We should not take the Rogue with us through the Jail. From what I scented while we were in the Barracks earlier, it will not be easy for any of them to see what the demons have done to those they had left behind."

"Other than the decaying bodies and old blood?"

"More like disembowelment, and a few other things I do not wish to consider." Smacking his wolf head helm against his thigh, the wild mage checked to see where Kyoko had gotten to. He spotted her with the Sorceress, discussing something about the bow the mage had given up to her. "The stairs to the Jail reeked of it, and that is not a smell one can confuse with another."

Nodding in agreement after a moment of thought, the holy knight squared his shoulders and left the lycan to inform the woman that they were leaving the Archer behind.

(ooo000ooo)

The Sorceress was not too pleased with her companions, up until they passed through the first room within the Jail. She had been of the opinion that, despite the smell, Kyoko should have the right to assist in reclaiming the Rogues' home. The view of the first of many tables that had been used to torture the Rogues left behind nearly made her sick, and she could not help but wonder if the Druid, who had scented it all from a level away, was fairing any better.

To her disgust, the table in the far back was still occupied, showing the six of them how exactly they had been used to gut the poor women shackled to it.

It was the first horror among many, for that was not the only scene of pain and despair they came across in the three floors of the Jail. Beheadings seemed to have been common, as well as stringing up a Rogue by the arms and letting the smaller demons eat away at what they could reach. Midway into the second level, one of the tables still had a black clad woman sitting in her chair, impaled by a length of wood to her spot.

They wasted no time in hurrying through the Jail, pitted against undead mages of both fire and lightning as well as skeleton archers, dark skinned Dark ones and dark furred Death Clan demons, a few spirits, the occasional Gargoyle Trap, and a pack of Tainted demons lead by an ice enchanted champion. All lit by the still burning torches or the Amazon's Inner Sight skill, and trying to ignore the fate of the forsaken Rouges. Thankfully, there were few bodies left intact, most remains were left as little more than puddles of dried blood and discarded bone, but there were more than enough to draw solid conclusion about what the women had faced as the Monastery was abandoned in the wake of the Dark Wanderer's passage through to the deserts lands of Aranoch.

It took the rest of the day and most of the night to get through the bloody prison, but they reached the light at the end of that tunnel by the beginning of the next day's false dawn. The five spirit wolves of the Druid's chased down a pack of Dark Ones once they had reached the outer halls of the Inner Cloister, surprising a Bone Mage who had wandered out near the stacked barrels at the end of the hall.

The Paladin opened one set of doors that lead into the small stretch of cobblestone encased grass, which held a way point at it's center. "Right where Kashya said it would be."

"We might just sleep until next morn, at this rate." Rubbing at her lacerated side, the Sorceress scanned the courtyard as she limped in. "Didn't the Rogue also say one of her better scouts was to be here watching it?"

"She will watch no more," The Necromancer, who had stepped into the strip of uncovered ground, spotted the body of the Rogue in question slain, "for the dead no longer see."

With a tired sigh, the female mage stepped up to the stone platform. "Well, I think the Rogues deserve a warning of what they will find, not that I anticipate with any joy the task of informing them."

As the rest of them gathered around to return to the Encampment, the holy knight shook his head. "I will do so, but once we awaken."


	6. Act I, Quest VI

**Disclaimer** : Obviously not mine, but the ten year love/hate affair with the game is.

**Rating** : The game is rated MA, so the fic will have to follow with a M for violence and graphic gore.

**Author's Note** : There will be a bit of an intermission between acts. So this isn't the last chapter of the Rogues, but it is of the Monastery.

* * *

><p><strong>Act I – The Sightless Eye<strong>

**Quest IV – Sisters to the Slaughter**

**THE** six that had ventured through the three bloody levels of the Jail slept through the next day and awoke at various times before dawn break of the next. True to his word, the Paladin took Akara and Kashya aside and told them of what they found of their fellow sisters' fates before he broke his fast in the watery false dawn light.

Since Kyoko was due to rejoin them for the rest of their venture through the Monastery, she assisted in rearming and repairing the equipment of the others even as she picked up more quivers for herself and the Sorceress. While he was waiting for the others to awake, the Barbarian browsed through the equipment both Charsi and Gheed had, and gambled a bit with the greedy merchant. When the Necromancer awoke, and as his magic fed through the bones and mounds of earth lying around him to reform his skeletons and the golem, he joined the wild warrior in looking at the weapons for an alternative to his throwing daggers as they were running low.

The Amazon fixed up their morning meal from the dishes she knew from her home, the scent of which roused the Druid and Sorceress for the day.

With the last of their numbers awake and aware, the holy knight rejoined them from the distasteful task he assigned himself. "They are aware of what they now face, though none of us any found joy in the telling. It will be a number of years yet before they will be able to live in the Monastery without daily reminders of what happened to their sister Rouges."

The Rouge Archer hesitated, since none of them had said why it was they left her behind for their travels through the Jail. "Worse than the Barracks?"

"Unfortunately, much worse." The Sorceress gave her a bitter smile, taking one of the extra quivers from the other woman. "We should have also left the Druid behind, the scent of the Jail nearly caused him to swoon."

The snort from behind the two made the Rogue nearly jump out of her red knee high boots. The wild mage cast an annoyed glare at the spell caster as he took up his large ax. "It was the close quarters, and the mold, that made me sneeze and smash my head against that iron gate. I almost knocked myself out, it wasn't the stench causing me to stager."

Giving them both a wane smile, the Rouge shook her head and took the new longbow the Barbarian handed to her.

(ooo000ooo)

The seven arrived at the Inner Cloister at mid morn, facing the Monastery's Cathedral for the next building they needed to clear out before continuing.

"Well, isn't this charming." The mocking voice made all of them spin around, to face a woman in black leather grinning at them from the back of the open grass courtyard. "Three mages, three warriors, and one of the little misplaced Rogues all here together to take on one of the Lesser Evils in combat." She had short hair cropped close to her head, two blades strapped to her forearms, and a number of odd things affixed to her belt that clanged together as she walked towards them. "Can I come and play too?" She asked coyly.

The Paladin frowned at her, but had no reason to deny another to their ranks, especially with what it was they were to face. But before he could say yea or nay, the Sorceress took a step forward, noticeably far paler than before under her skin's tan complexion. "An Viz-Jaq'taar Assassin. Never thought I would ever see your kind. Never wanted to either."

"Oh, don't worry little mageling, I'm not interested in you. If I was, we wouldn't be standing here talking so nicely like this." The Assassin gave the spell caster a sickeningly sweet grin, drawing the edges of her blades together to create an ear splitting sound. "I'm here for the demon lurking in yon Cathedral. Not you, or your little magical friends, even if the pale one _does_ look suspicious."

The Necromancer snorted at her, scowling harder than he had upon waking that morning. "I have been investigated by three of your fellows since I have been in Khanduras, woman. They have found nothing demonic about me, and neither will you, no matter how hard you look."

The Amazon looked from one mage to the other, confused beyond measure. "Why call her an Assassin?"

"Because that is what I am." The woman clad in black leather swept them all a bow, made more extravagant by the blades she wore sweeping around her form. "The Viz-Jaq'taar, or the Order of the Mage Slayers, if you wish. We are those who hunt down and destroy mages that dabble in Demonic Magics."

"A long time ago, there was a clan of mages who studied Demon Magics, the Vizjerei. Within their ranks, two brothers rose to prominence with two different theories on how the magic was to be used and harnessed. Horazon, who thought you needed to bind a demon to your will to safely practice such magics, and Bartuc, who thought you needed to ally with the demons so secrets could be shared freely." Even as she spoke, the Sorceress gripped her Long Staff with whitening knuckles and kept the Assassin in her sights. "Like most mage clans with two leaders, the clan was ripped down the middle as the two brothers argued who was right. When it resulted in the inevitable violence, it was proven that the two brothers were played by a demonic host and Bautuc lay dead by his brother's hands, Horazon left in a self-imposed exile, and the Vizjerei learned an important lesson."

"Yes, yes. Then the mages decided to return to Elemental Magics, much like your own clan, the Zann Esu." The leather clad woman waved one bladed hand in the air. "Then they decided there needed to be an order that would prevent another such incident similar to the ordeal wrought on them, and the Viz-Jaq'taar were born. Those who train themselves, their bodies, and their minds, to resist those that fall to demonic influences. But none of you have to worry about that, because you're all as pure as driven snow, right?" Nodding to the wooden doors of the Cathedral, the Assassin held up her hands, and her weapons, to show them she had no ill intentions to their group. "I'm hunting a skeleton mage at the moment, not you. One called Bone Ash. The unusually strong Burning Dead Mage has been killing up and down the Tamoe Mountain Range and the Sharval Wilds, and I've tracked the damned thing here. Of course, I've found a few other alarming things while hunting this dead mage. So I propose a bargain. If you help me, I'll help you with clearing out this Monastery for the Rouges."

The Paladin inspected both the Sorceress and the Necromancer for any sign that he should turn the Assassin away, but neither spoke after the black leather clad woman made her intentions clear. Apparently, the Druid had no idea that there was an order of killers that concentrated only on mages, for he was scrutinizing the new woman as much as he could in his half-wolf form, radiating enough confusion that even the holy knight could sense a few feet away.

Since none of the magically inclined protested, the Paladin had to assume they did not care to invite her but would not object either, possibly because they were aware they needed the help. "Do as you will, Assassin. We are bound for the Catacombs beneath the Cathedral, if you do not mind the dark, we would appreciate the assistance."

She smiled at them all, surprisingly not mocking or sly for once. "I think both of us would."

(ooo000ooo)

It became apparent why the Assassin had concentrated her efforts in hunting and tracking the Burning Dead Mage as soon as the eight of them got far enough within the spoiled Cathedral to clearly see the pulpit. The dead mage had his bony hands on the tome of writings the Rouges had for their All Seeing Eye, their prophesies and history, and it looked up with a clack of bone hitting bone when the death screeches of the Dark Ones and pained grunts of the Tainted reached it.

Abandoning the tome of religious writing, Bone Ash took the steps down onto the Cathedral floor and summoned his magics, which collected around his hands in an icy, poisonous shroud. Stalking past the smashed pews, it started throwing bolts of venomous ice at the closest to it.

Throwing some of the odd objects she stored in her belt, the Assassin dodged away from the magical bolts as her contraptions started spewing fire at the skeleton mage. Leaping between waves of fire being pushed from the strange nozzles, the Druid closed in quickly to the off colored skeleton and ripped one magically attached arm off the mage. His pack of spirit wolves followed his foot paws, the five of them leaping and grabbing hold of a different bone each in their jaws. With the skeleton distracted, the Paladin took his saber and stabbed it through the undead creature's skull.

It shattered in an explosion of ice, hitting five of the eight adventurers and numbing them with frost. The Archer, who had stood back and peppered the other foes in the Cathedral with her arrows, the Necromancer, who had been tangled up in a fight between his pack of undead and a Dark One Shaman and it's own pack of demons, and the Assassin, who had known what would happen with the death of the mage, all escaped the blast of cold.

With the three that had escaped without the threat of frostbite dealing with the remains of the monsters that infested in the Cathedral, the five others limped over to the east side of the vaulted room, where the curving stairwell led down to the Catacombs. As soon as the Assassin rejoined them, the Paladin awarded her a dark look as he continued knocking the frost out of his armor's metal links. "Some warning would have been appreciated."

"All demons and dead things enchanted with ice do that. I thought you knew." She checked over her wrist blades, inspecting the metal edges for any notches. "Something about how the Burning Hells disagrees with ice of any kind, even if it is used for evil. When cold enchanted monsters die, the magics they hold either by might or trickery rebel and explodes out of the Hell Spawn, hitting everything in it's path."

The Sorceress, leaning against the wall and slowly drinking a potion of mana, spoke up then. "Makes some sense, if you think about it. That wasn't the only cold enchanted monster we have ever faced together, Sir Knight."

He nodded, conceding the point to her. "The walking corpse of the Den of Evil in the Bloody Moors."

"That ranger Rogue bitch from the Caves." The Barbarian added, prying his fingers from the hafts of his axes. "Kashya said her name was Cold Crow in another life."

The Amazon chimed in next, grinning at the Necromancer. "We've found that foes that hold otherworldly fire in them explode as well."

The pale mage grimaced at the reminder, and of the memory scent of boiling flesh that came with it. "The Countess."

"That Shaman from the Fallen Camp in the Cold Plains," the Druid clicked his claws together, "I know not of what he's called, but he exploded as well."

The Assassin shrugged with a wave of one bladed hand. "Point being, some monsters do that, some spew poison into the air, and most just die. I'll inform you if I see any that react in that fashion to being killed, but it's most likely not the last one you will see."

After the elemental mage had treated their frozen skin with a thawing potion, some of the miscellaneous potions she had picked up from Akara before they had left the Encampment that morning, they made their way into the Catacombs without further delay.

A damp chill greeted the eight of them, with a hallway branching out in all directions from where they stood. It smelled of musty things and cold rot, with the ever lingering stench of demons packed into tight corners emanating from everywhere.

"This place chills me to the bone." The Sorceress rubbed her metal clad arms, wincing as the cold links pressed into her skin.

The Amazon checked down each of the halls in front of them, frowning at the closed doors and the pools of blood on the ground. "This place is eerie. It would give me chills if I hadn't seen the like before."

"I sense a demonic presence here." The Necromancer sneered into the dark, where he could hear things scuttling outside of the view of the few torches.

"I don't like it down here." Setting up a few traps in case they were followed, the Assassin circled around the wall that encased the stairs up to the Cathedral. "Let's use the fastest method you have to clear this den of horrors out. The less time we spend down here, the more I like it."

Nodding sharply, the Paladin turned to the other six. "Teams of two, then. Go out to the farthest point you can and kill anything that moves, even if it is already dead. Druid and Barbarian, take the north corridors. Lady Assassin, Archer, the west. Take the east, Priest of Rathma, and keep the Amazon with you. My lady? We'll take the south."

* * *

><p>It took generally about two hours for each group to get back to the stairs they came down in, and the first level of the Catacombs had little that inconvenienced the eight of them in any way. There were a few Rat Men, small humanoid creatures that rushed them with over sized hatchets in hand, packs of Dark Ones, a few shamans, and the occasional Afflicted that were close to the surface. The next level down saw giant spiders the Sorceress and Assassin identified as Arachs, something they both knew from their homelands but were unused to seeing in such great sizes, but nothing else new aside from a way point tucked away in a long abandoned corridor.<p>

The third level held the start of the dead ranks of soldiers Andariel had corrupted. Ghouls, zombie like dead men that roamed the halls aimlessly, and the Banished, dead sorcerers that siphoned away their life to heal itself and threw fire around at will, proved to be difficult in their own ways. It was slower going than the first or second levels, but although it took them three hours each they came back, some with new scars and others still bleeding but there.

They felt the heat from the various fires of the fourth level before they saw it. Along with the torches next to the stairwell, there were two bonfires burning in the middle of the room the stairs ended at, as well as a number of Ghouls lurking against the far wall. As the Assassin ripped through them with the Necromancer's skeleton minions, the Druid and the Barbarian pushed open the door positioned in the middle of the east wall.

The two wild men stopped short at the sight of a pit in the middle of the room, with dismembered bodies floating in blood visible in the lights cast by the number of fires burning in the room. They also spotted that there were at least two additional dead Rogues, one tied to a stake and the other laying on the ground. Movement in the far corner of the great room drew their attention from the gruesome sight before them, and they bolted for the packs of Dark Ones crawling out of the shadows to meet them.

The Archer stopped dead in the door way, taking in the bloody pit before her even as the Paladin and Sorceress passed her by and circled around the room to get to the father packs of dark skinned demons within. Following his golem, the Necromancer paused next to her as he saw what had gripped her attention so hard. "The dead are beyond pain, but not beyond vengeance."

She pressed her lips together and ripped her eyes from the bodies of her fellow Rogues, drawing her arrows and firing them into the writhing shadows in the northwest side of the room.

Once they had finished with the monsters that had camped out in the room, they gathered before the massive wooden doors that Kyoko claimed was the end of the Catacombs. "There is nothing that lies beyond that corridor. We used it to inter the previous Abbesses, once they died. If we haven't seen this Demon Queen yet, she has to be there."

"What is the lay of the room?" Asked the Assassin as she looked over the door's catches and latches to ensure there was no trap waiting to be sprung on whoever opened the doors.

"There are two small corridors right behind the doors, and a hallway that leads to the stone slab we lay out the bodies on. A few pillars line the way, but there was noting else when we held the Monastery."

The black leather clad woman cast a glance back to the pit of bodies behind them, but said nothing about what the demon might have done to the room.

"Do we lead the demon out here, or go in to meet her?" The Paladin asked as he paced the stone floor before the door, ignoring the dead bodies of the demons they had slain not moments before.

"There are benefits to both ideas." Looking around at the damage already wrought in the room, the Necromancer tuned back to the holy knight. "Leading her out here would let us control how we meet her in battle, but would let her close to more of us. The hallway would let us keep some distance from her, but would provide her with a funnel we would have to press through to get to her."

Watching the mage slayer inspect the door, the Amazon snorted harshly. "Damned if we do, damned if we don't?"

"Something like that." Circling around the bloody pit dug into the floor, the pale mage resummoned the missing numbers of his skeletons. "I say we stay out here, lure her out with some arrows."

Gripping the shaft of her bow, the Archer nodded to him. "I second that. As long as I can shoot the bitch somewhere that it will hurt."

The Sorceress shot an alarmed look over to the Paladin, but he simply shrugged at her. "The first shot does belong to her."

"Fine, as long as you retreat when I say, Kyoko." Shifting the long staff to lay across her back, the elemental mage took up her hunting bow and notched an arrow. "There might be more monsters lurking beyond the doors, we will slay them first before entering so they cannot come up behind us when we are retreating."

The two women waited while the other six set up to ambush the Demon Queen, the holy knight trading places with the human formed Druid at the doors with the Barbarian. When they were all as ready as they could be, the two men pushed the heavy wooden doors open for them.

As the Sorceress had theorized, there were a number of foes just behind the door. A pack of Dark Ones, a shaman, and a few roaming Ghouls that took a few arrows each to kill, went down before the two archers cautiously entered further.

Andariel had her back turned to them when they spotted her, and they both could see the scorpion tails that fanned out from the demon's back and whipped around her head. As they both became distracted by the sight of the Lesser Evil, a Dark One Shaman spotted them and the felled Dark Ones behind them and raised one with a cry.

The Demon Queen heard him and twisted around, catching sight of both women just before they loosened the arrows from their bows. The Rogue's arrow found the flesh of her shoulder, but the Sorceress' found the throat of the Shaman.

"DIE MAGGOTS!"

Andariel threw herself at them, and the elemental mage grabbed the shoulder of the Archer next to her and yanked her backwards. "Run!"

The raised Dark One in their path sneered at the two of them, lunging forward with the scimitar it held. Kyoko pushed the Sorceress out of the way, taking the thrust through her belly even as she loosened another arrow straight into the demon's eye. Kyoko staggered off in the direction of the short halls, diving behind a stack of crates to avoid catching the Lesser Evil's attention when she was injured that badly.

Although she staggered, the spell caster made it to where the holy knight stood. He grabbed onto her and pulled her behind him, and the Assassin did so as well, putting even more room between the bow armed Sorceress and the doorway that Andariel was fitting herself through.

Though the body of the demon was female in form, she had cloven hoofs and double jointed legs, with dark spurs jutting from them. Her hands were furred red and tipped with razor claws, proven by the furrows she carved into the stone ground as she pulled herself out of the doorway. Her four scorpion tails caught on the wood momentarily, as the room behind her was larger than the one before her, and the seven of them used that moment to strike out at her.

Drawing upon the very earth itself, the Druid summoned a massive rip in the earth that spewed fire under the demon as his wolves attacked. Summoning the curses he had only used a few times before, the Necromancer cast an Iron Maiden curse as his own minions closed in on the Lesser Evil. Having already set up her traps that were just starting to spew fire, the Assassin and the Paladin charged together with the Barbarian closing in from the other side. Steadying herself with the length of wood given to her by the warrior she had traded her bow off to, the Sorceress stood next to the Necromancer's bone mages and summoned her fire magics, casting a series of Fire Balls at the over sized demon trying to reach her even as the Amazon started firing exploding arrows into the demon's flesh.

Andariel screeched, flinging out a fan of poison at them and ripping her claws through the spirit wolves that sank their fangs into her legs. Backhanding the golem into the wall and forcing it to crumble under the impact, the demon bent herself in half, stabbing a number of the animal spirits with her tails and flinging them to the corner of the room.

The Necromancer's skeletons took up the place of the wolves, even as the pale mage paused in throwing his daggers to raise another golem. As the Lesser Evil smashed her way through the ranks of bone warriors he controlled, both the priest of the dead and the wild mage resummoned their minions even as they fell.

Hacking clean through the demon's leg, the Barbarian swung both his axes again and again, burying them in the demon woman's thigh. Andariel screamed as she staggered on her severed leg, slashing her claws down the wild warrior's face and knocking him to the ground. Distracted as she was, the demon never saw the Assassin dig her blades in her lower back and rip them down, discharging the fire that had built up with each hit of her martial arts in an explosion that removed two of her four scorpion tails. As the Lesser Evil tried to turn again, the Paladin ripped his own blade through her guts, spilling them out on the floor.

Andariel slumped to the ground, keening as her body betrayed her by dieing. In a last fit of rage, she summoned the very fires she hated to consume her flesh and return her spirit back to the Burning Hells even as the Necromancer laughed at her. "Back to the Hells that spawned you!"

The Sorceress darted back through the doorway to find the Rogue the moment the demon's charred corpse stopped twitching.

Walking around the warped body of Andariel, the Assassin knelt down and inspected the skull of the demon. "Death becomes you, Andariel."

Ignoring the blood pouring from his face, the Barbarian joined in the priest of the dead's laughter. "Let the gate be opened."

"Hmpf. This maiden will inflict no more anguish." Kicking the demon's hacked off leg on her way past, the Amazon followed where the elemental mage had run to see to the last of their number.

Kyoko had taken some shots at the demons that still lingered in the final hall, unable to move without disturbing the blade in her belly. By the time the blond warrior had arrived to the other women's sides, the Sorceress had carefully pulled the sword from the Rogue and was tending to the wounds with healing potions. "It will be a few moments till she can safely move. Tell the Priest of Rathma to summon the portal to the Rogues' Encampment, we will return as well as soon as Kyoko can move without splitting open what has healed."

Doing what the spell caster said, she and the Druid cleared out the remaining foes before leaving as well.

When the Archer could stand without blood pouring from her, the Sorceress pulled her though the portal and into Akara's capable, waiting hands.


	7. Act I, Intermission

**Disclaimer** : Obviously not mine, but the ten year love/hate affair with the game is.

**Rating** : The game is rated **MA**, so the fic will have to follow with a **M** for violence and graphic gore.

**Author's Note **: And now for some obligatory traveling.

* * *

><p><strong><span>Act I End, Act II Begin<span>**

**Intermission**

Akara managed to save Kyoko's life, but the Rogue Archer was in no shape to travel out with Warriv's caravan to Lut Gholein in two days' time with the seven of them.

The Rogue was somewhat sad, but also slightly relieved, not to be continuing with them in chasing after the Dark Wanderer's shadow. "I would have accompanied you, if you wanted me... but I want to help with cleansing the Monastery." She shook her head, still lying on a cot in the High Priestess' tent as the Sorceress knelt down beside her, having entered to collect the healing and mana potions she had purchased from the Rogues' High Priestess. "We will not be sending you off without one of our own to help, Flavie has volunteered to take my place."

The spell caster smiled softly in the dim confines of the fabric shelter as she gathered the glass bottles filled with potions she had entered for. "We will miss your swift and sure bow, that is for certain."

Outside of Akara's tent, the others were loading and securing the goods the Rogues had selected to be sold off for the capital needed to purchase more supplies that they could not make or forage for themselves, Warriv had given each of the seven of them their own space in his wagons to store what they would, but they had little to store besides their cache of gold, personal items, or the few gems and other such jewels besides the equipment they wore.

The Encampment was either busy or nearly abandoned by turns that day, Kashya having taken those of her Rogues fit for battle and returned to the Monastery early that morning to look over what needed to be done to restore their home to its original condition and to open the gates east to the deserts of Aranoch, just on the other side of the Tamoe Mountain Range. Akara and Charsi were currently looking over the semi-permanent parts of the camp, seeing what would need to be dismantled and what would need to be moved to strengthen the outpost. The Rogues had decided to remake the Encampment into a frontier camp, to better protect the settlers that might return to the Khanduras forests, as long as they had survived escaping it to consider returning.

When the setting sun started casting lengthening shadows over the camp the caravan was finally prepared to depart, checked over for any possible problems and set up to leave with the rising of the next morning's sun. They spent their last night in the Bloody Moors sitting around the fire pit without bothering with their usual chores or anything else resembling the maintenance of their combat equipment. The Barbarian and the Paladin could not do much but rest, seeing as they were still badly ill with the remains of Andariel's venom coursing through their veins in spite of the potions of antidote both the Sorceress and Akara had poured down their throats. Having escaped the majority of the poison spewed in the chamber underground but unable to stand for very long, both the Amazon and Assassin spent the time cautiously talking about the places and sights they had seen since leaving their respective homelands. Spending time reading the two tomes lent to them from the High Priestess of the Sisterhood of the Sightless Eye, the Necromancer and Druid both were slightly peaked from the Demon Queen's poison but not as afflicted as the others were. The Sorceress was cheating a little in preparing the evening meal, using her fire magics to ensure the deer which Rogues had given them was cooked thoroughly without the use of a spit.

Warriv, Deckard Cain, and Flavie had joined the recovering heroes around the fire, the Rogue Scout resting her curved bow on her knees, the caravan driver next to Cain with his maps laid out before him, and the Horadrim Sage with his staff set against his stooped shoulder.

Once the meal was done, the Sorceress portioned most of it out and set the rest of it to be dried for jerky on one of the wagons. After doling out the portions to those who were eating, she took a seat next to Warriv. "How far out is Lut Gholein?"

"Lut Gholein is on the other side of the Aranoch desert, next to the Twin Seas. We have to get through the mountain ranges and the decent to the desert floor, as well as the miles of scorching sand between here and the port city." The older man pulled out the maps that showed a great part of the Aranoch desert and the mountain range. "I am relieved that so many of you survived your tangle with Andariel, you'll be of great help in dealing with the desert raiders and whatever monsters we encounter on our way."

"Is it a dangerous route?"

"I've been leading caravans for twenty years now, Sorceress. I have, in that time, been attacked by more bandits than I care to remember, but never when a Paladin accompanied me." Warriv cast a grin to the holy knight recuperating across the fire pit. "The Paladin Order of Westmarch has kept me from losing a small fortune, so I don't expect more trouble than you and your comrades can handle. However, I wasn't expecting the Monastery to be besieged by one of the Lesser Evils, so I may be wrong about that."

* * *

><p>They set out with the rising of the sun, rounding the long way around the wild forests of Khanduras. It took them three days to reach the Monastery gates that way, but they also didn't have to risk taking the wagons through the Underground Passage. Kashya greeted them with the out runners of her Rogue scouts when they reached the Tamoe Highlands, escorting them up to the gates leading east through the mountain pass.<p>

The terrain changed drastically, from the lush forests to the rocky crags of the mountain range and on the decent it just got hotter during the day and freezing cold during the nights. The ground under their boots turned from mossy to rocky, then to the shifting sands of desert terrain.

Half of their number weathered the transition better than the others. The Paladin, who had trained with all terrain types in mind, ignored the heat that baked off his armor and helmet, marching almost at the head of the caravan. Both the Amazon and the Sorceress, although used to extreme heat paired with vast amounts of humidity, were just as successful at enduring the changes in temperature as the holy knight. Having come from a mountain region, both the Druid and Barbarian had trouble at first with the extreme heat of the days, but were well fitted for surviving the nights. Though she hated the dry heat paired with her black leather, the Assassin remained mute about any problems she was having, and the Rogue, Flavie, held a similar silence.

The caravan spent two weeks crossing the desert. Warriv ordered them to travel during the mornings and evenings only, to keep any of the people with them from expiring with the heat and from getting lost in the dunes during the nights. The oxen that pulled the wagons each spent long amounts of time at each of the oases they found, as the water that traveled with them in great barrels was portioned out whenever it was needed and not as travel rations.

There were more monsters along the trading routes than the old caravan driver remembered, and less human bandits to be seen. Great twisted vultures circled overhead and one periodically landed to harass whatever it could before one of the eight escorting the caravan managed to kill it, as well as frequent attacks from Saber Cats and the twisted, legendary dark warriors called the Sand Raiders that appeared from out of the night and tried to slaughter the people traveling to Lut Gholien.

They reached the main trading port of the Aranoch desert two and a half weeks after they had left the Rogues' Encampment in the Bloody Moors with the rise of the midday sun. The eight assorted warriors lent a hand with unhitching the wagons and unloading, as they had not seen much action since the previous night's raid by a pride of Huntresses.

Once Warriv had situated himself near the edge of the city, gathered the eight of them together before they left him there. "Now that Andariel is dead, I can return and outfit the rogues properly. Once I've made some trades here, I'll be free to head back to the Monastery, let me know if you wanna travel along."

Before they could scatter to see what the Jewel of the Desert held for them, they were approached by a finely robed man. "Greetings, honored travelers. I am Jerhyn, Lord of Lut Gholein, and I bid you welcome to my fair port-city. I'm glad to know that once again caravans are free to travel through the Western Pass. For some time now, we have been under siege by an evil power that I cannot identify. Strange... It all began when a Dark Wanderer came this way, looking for the Tomb of Tal Rasha. No one knows exactly where Tal Rasha, Keeper of Baal, is entombed, but it is certain to be far out in the desert. Now, my people whisper tales of the dead rising from their tombs and horrible creatures lurking amongst the moonlit dunes. Even I have witnessed things which I cannot explain. I've ordered the port closed and all trade ships moored until I am sure that my city is safe. Atma, the tavern keeper, has an important mission for you all. Go see her immediately. You'll find her on the other side of town. Now, I must return to the palace. I apologize, but I can't invite you in. Things are... rather a mess right now. To any who aid me in the defense of Lut Gholein, I pledge my support. Passage East, wealth, honor - all are due to those who help my city." With that, the Sultan leader left them there and returned to an ornate palace in the distance.

The Paladin grimaced at his back as they watched him walk away. "A fine greeting indeed. I suspect that all is not well in this fair city."

"Atma… well, we will need rooms to stay in, for I don't think we can pitch tents in the middle of the streets." Checking to ensure her wrist blades were still where she left them, the Assassin looked around the part of the city they were now in.

There was a well next to where the caravan driver had his wagon, as well as some wooden awnings holding goods and food for sale. There were fewer people roaming the streets than any good sized port city should boast, unnerving the Amazon and Paladin further.

With a heavy sigh, the Druid pulled off his pelt and tied it around his waist. "Mayhap we should see for ourselves what the other merchants have to say. "

"Charsi was unusually good with her gossip. Shall we each take a part of the city and meet in this Atma's inn?"

When no one objected to the Sorceress' suggestion, they started wandering the streets to see what they could learn.

(ooo000ooo)

The holy knight, the wild warrior, and the lycan found the merchant's square first, since that was the way they had split from the others. Seeking a cooler place in the heat, the Druid was the first to come face to face with Atma within her Tavern.

As soon as he entered the manmade den, a woman in gray and purple robes approached him. "You'll forgive me if I seem upset. I've suffered a loss recently, but that's not your problem. It's a relief to see some proper warriors come through here. My name is Atma. I run the tavern here in Lut Gholein."

"… I am sorry?"

Atma gave the nonplussed Druid a tired smile. "I don't expect this of you, but if you want to help me, I would be grateful. In the sewers below our city, there lurks a horrid creature that hungers for human flesh. The creature has killed many, including my son and my husband. If you destroy it, I will reward you. Please be careful though, that beast has taken enough from us already. The sewer entrance is through the trap door just up the street."

"I will see what I and my companions can do for you, dear lady." The wild mage gave her a rueful grin. "We were, in fact, looking for you. Lord Jerhyn told us to seek you out."

"That was kind of him." Atma's smile grew more genuine, and she invited the shapeshifter into her public house.

(ooo000ooo)

The Barbarian had taken a quick look around, then went off after his brother in spirit, leaving the Paladin alone in the merchant's square, where it seemed Deckard Cain had also wandered to. He wandered a bit, seeing what was for sale and eventually reaching Fara's smithy.

The red headed woman nodded respectfully to the Knight of the Westmarch. "Welcome, brother Paladin. I am Fara. I was once a devout champion of Zakarum, now I forge weapons and armor, and can repair your equipment for a price."

"Well met, lady Fara." The holy knight saluted her with one fist, as his weapon would remain sheathed while in the city. "I am looking for a new sword."

(ooo000ooo)

The Sorceress and the Rogue Scout passed the merchant's square after looking in and seeing the Paladin conversing with the blacksmith of the city, wandering down some more streets until they came up to a blind alley where a brightly robed and dark skinned man was reading a tome of some thickness. He glanced up at the two women, shutting the heavy book and tucking it away once he recognized one of them as a fellow mage. "Welcome, young Sorceress, to Lut Gholein. I hope your skills are a match for the horrors that lie beyond the city's walls. A mage of your limited experience may find the evil too great to withstand alone. My name is Drognan and I know what you're up against, my friend. You ought to look over my inventory of items for trade."

"Then it is thankful that I do not walk alone then." Despite the rather unwelcoming words, the older man's words were warm and the Sorceress felt none of the censure she normally got from male mages similar to her own clan.

Stroking his white goatee, Drognan grinned wryly at the young mage standing proud before him. "Many of the Mage Clans feel that women shouldn't practice magic openly. But since you've made it this far, I must say that you have proven your right to do so."

The elemental mage cracked a grin at the older wizard. "My thanks for the compliment, and I think I will look over your items, my good sir."

(ooo000ooo)

Elzix peered down the street, convinced that his one good eye was playing tricks on him. No one was that pale under the desert sun. As the figure got closer, the old bandit lord realized what he was staring at. "Ah... You must be one of the new heroes who've come to rid our city of evil. Under any other circumstances, I'd be surprised to see one of your kind in the city. But lately... Oh, never mind all that... You know, I used to be quite the scoundrel in my day. I led the fiercest group of bandits who ever terrorized these sands! Nowadays, I run this here Inn and pretty much stay out of trouble. My days of adventuring are behind me." The crippled older man grinned, displaying a few missing teeth to the Necromancer who had stopped once he was addressed. "You know, I've lost a number of body parts over the years. An eye here, a leg there... Say, do you know any spells that'd grow them back for me? Hmm... On second thought, I'll leave well enough alone."

The pale mage arched a sardonic eyebrow at the ex-bandit. "I would advise that as well. May I have your name, if you are done accosting me with pointless observations?"

With an even wider grin, Elzix held out part of a hand. "Elzix of the Desert Rain Inn, at your service. Necromancer."

(ooo000ooo)

By mutual consent, the Amazon and the Assassin stuck together. Something about the city was bothering the two female warriors, and until they knew more, decided sticking together was better than becoming confronted by whatever it was alone. They wandered to the entrance to the city, intent on systematically searching Lut Gholein by starting at the beginning and working their way out.

Just inside of the city walls, a mercenary leader called out to the two of them. "Who goes there?" He scowled at the two of them, until he noticed the weapons they had but kept holstered while within the city's walls. "Well, a pair of warriors come to clean up the Evil in the city, huh? I'll bet you wonder how this town manages to stay safe with all the trouble going on out in the desert. Well, I can tell you that it's got nothing to do with the local town guards... they're all in the palace for some reason. Jerhyn hired me and my mercenaries to help keep the peace around here. We're not cheap, but we're the best this wasteland has to offer."

"I take it then you are the one to see about what goes on around here?" The Amazon inspected the male from his turban to his booted feet, and had to admit it looked like the mercenary could hold his own.

"We do a good job in town, but beyond the city gates, you'll find all manner of demons. The local guards were all relocated to the palace after the troubles began. No one really knows why. Actually, all of the town's brothel girls have been hiding out in the palace's cellar lately, so I assume that the guards have been assigned to 'protect them' with their lives. We're keeping the town safe and tight, but I've got a hunch there's something Jerhyn's not telling us." The man grimaced at the thought, then shook his head and held out a calloused hand to the women. "My name is Greiz, the leader of these desert mercenaries."

The Assassin shook his hand after the blond warrior. "Do you have any mercenaries for hire then?"

"I might spare you a few of my men. Why, enough gold can muster an army." He grinned broadly at the two of them. "May I ask why?"

"I have the feeling that we may end up traversing the deserts, and an experienced guide is always welcome."

* * *

><p>Nine of them met up in Atma's public house with the fall of the desert's harsh sun. The Mercenary named Durga joining the eight of them already present to listen to what the others had found and interject his own two copper pennies worth. The Druid explained Atma's request of them, and the Mercenary told them the rumors and stories that had been circulating the town since the disappearances started.<p>

It was a unanimous decision to go after the monster lurking beneath the city, each for their own reasons. They decided to start on clearing the sewers of the Evil that resided there at the next day's dawn, and four of them, the Amazon, the Paladin, the Assassin, and the Mercenary stayed to rent rooms from the tavern keeper more for her peace of mind; the Necromancer leading the Sorceress, the Druid, and the Rogue to the Desert Rain Inn to keep from crowding the widow's available rooms.


End file.
